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THE UN SUB-COMMITTEE of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (TDG) held its 59th session this past 29 November to 8 December 2021, with Duane Pfund (US) in the chair and Claude Pfauvadel (France) as vice-chair. It was attended, either in person or online, by representatives of 23 countries, the EU, the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF), the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the International Maritime
sessions; however, ongoing Covid-19 response measures, financial constraints triggered by the UN liquidity crisis, renovation work at the Palais des Nations that limited the number of meeting rooms available for hybrid meetings and the allocation of interpretation services all meant that the volume of work was less than might have been hoped. The first part of this two-part report on the session (HCB March 2022, page 48) covered a surprisingly thin list of proposals relating to explosives and a rather longer agenda of
ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS Never a regulatory meeting goes by, it seems, without some further changes to the very many and varied provisions relating to the transport of lithium batteries in one form or another. A very important project, therefore, is the development of a hazard-based classification system for lithium batteries and cells, which – if successful – could put an end to that constant process of refining the rules. The informal working group on hazardbased classification of lithium batteries had met by video conference in December 2020 and May 2021 and France and the European Association for Advanced Rechargeable Batteries (Recharge) provided the Subcommittee with an update on its discussions. A major issue appears to be the repeatability of test results and variations in test methods. After a series of tests undertaken by various laboratories, it was found, for instance, that the cell format, state of charge (SOC) and heating rate can all have a significant impact on cell hazards and the propagation of heat.
Organisation (IMO), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and 25 non-governmental organisations. In addition, observers from Latvia, Luxembourg and Turkey also took part. This second meeting of the Sub-committee for the current biennium would in more normal times be the busiest of the four
proposals for amendment in terms of classification, listing and packaging, which covered such subjects as quinone dioxime, gallium in articles, tetramethylammonium hydroxide and ammonium nitrate (hot concentrated solution). This second part covers the remaining discussions at the session.
The working group had made a start on more tightly defining the test protocols so as to reduce that variability in results. France, which under Claude Pfauvadel is chairing the working group, said it expects the group to extend its discussions on batteries and will report back during the Sub-
LET’S GET BUSY MULTIMODAL • DESPITE THE DIFFICULTIES OF MEETING IN PERSON, THE UN EXPERTS HAVE MADE A LOT OF PROGRESS TOWARDS THE 23RD REVISED EDITION OF THE MODEL REGULATIONS
HCB MONTHLY | APRIL 2022
