IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations: A Lab Shipper’s Guide

Shipping almost anything out of a research lab by air — a solvent, a reagent kit with a lithium battery inside an instrument, a biological specimen packed in dry ice, a compressed gas standard — can put that shipment under the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR), the manual airlines and freight forwarders use to decide whether a package is legal to fly at all. This guide explains what the IATA DGR actually is, how its classification system works, what it requires a shipper to do before a package leaves the building, and how it fits alongside the more specific shipping rules CASRAI covers elsewhere — biological substance classification, cold-chain packaging, and staff training and certification.

What the IATA DGR Actually Is

The IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations is the International Air Transport Association’s annually updated manual for classifying, packing, marking, labeling, and documenting dangerous goods for air transport. It is the operating standard airlines require of shippers, freight forwarders, and ground handlers worldwide — most commercial and cargo carriers contractually require compliance with the current DGR edition as a condition of accepting a shipment, regardless of what country it originates in.

The DGR is built on the ICAO Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air (the underlying international legal instrument, published by the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization) but is typically more restrictive: IATA layers on “operator variations” — additional carrier- and state-specific restrictions — on top of the ICAO baseline. A shipment that is technically compliant with the ICAO Technical Instructions can still be refused by a specific airline if it fails one of these IATA or carrier-level variations. In the United States, domestic ground and air shipments are also independently regulated by the Department of Transportation under 49 CFR Parts 171-180; the DGR and 49 CFR overlap heavily but are not identical, and international air shipments are governed by the DGR regardless of what 49 CFR says. A new DGR edition is published every year, with the current edition (the 67th, effective January 2026) reflecting the latest round of classification and packing-instruction changes — labs that ship internationally by air should confirm they’re working from the current edition rather than an outdated internal reference sheet.

The Nine UN Hazard Classes

The DGR uses the same nine-class hazard system as the UN Model Regulations and 49 CFR, which is why classification decisions made for air shipment are also the reference point for ground and ocean transport. Every dangerous good a lab ships falls into one (or occasionally more than one) of these classes:

• Class 1 — Explosives: rare in a research setting outside specialized energetics work.
• Class 2 — Gases: compressed, liquefied, or dissolved gases, including calibration gas cylinders and cryogenic liquids like liquid nitrogen in certain configurations.
• Class 3 — Flammable liquids: many common solvents (acetone, ethanol, methanol, xylene) above the DGR’s flash-point threshold.
• Class 4 — Flammable solids, substances liable to spontaneous combustion, and substances that are dangerous when wet: certain reactive metals and some peroxide-forming or pyrophoric materials.
• Class 5 — Oxidizing substances and organic peroxides: oxidizers used in synthesis and some fixatives.
• Class 6 — Toxic and infectious substances: this is the class that covers biological substances, split into Category A (UN 2814/2900, infectious substances capable of causing permanent disability or death in otherwise healthy humans or animals) and Category B (UN 3373, everything else that meets the definition of an infectious substance but not the Category A criteria) — see the dedicated classification guide linked below for the full decision process.
• Class 7 — Radioactive material: radioisotopes and radiolabeled compounds, layered with additional IAEA-derived packaging and labeling rules.
• Class 8 — Corrosives: many acids, bases, and some fixatives and decalcifying solutions.
• Class 9 — Miscellaneous dangerous goods: the catch-all class that captures two of the most common lab shipping triggers — dry ice (UN 1845, used to cool biological and temperature-sensitive shipments) and lithium batteries (UN 3480/3481/3090/3091, found inside or packed with almost any battery-powered instrument, sensor, or data logger a lab ships).

Two things trip up labs specifically: Class 9 is easy to overlook because dry ice and batteries don’t read as “hazardous” the way a corrosive acid does, and a single shipment can legitimately carry more than one class at once — a Category B biological specimen packed in dry ice, for example, is both a Class 6 and a Class 9 dangerous good, and both sets of packing and marking requirements apply.

What Actually Triggers These Rules in a Research Lab

The DGR applies the moment a substance meeting a hazard-class definition is offered for transport by air — it does not require intent to sell the material commercially. Common lab-originated shipments that fall under the DGR include:

• Flammable, corrosive, or oxidizing chemical reagents and solvents shipped between sites, to collaborators, or for waste disposal
• Dry ice used to keep biological samples, reagents, or temperature-sensitive materials cold in transit
• Biological substances, clinical specimens, and diagnostic samples classified as Category A or Category B infectious substances
• Lithium metal or lithium-ion batteries installed in or packed alongside instruments, sensors, and portable equipment
• Compressed or liquefied gas cylinders, including small calibration-gas cylinders
• Radioactive tracers, standards, and radiolabeled reagents

A shipment that looks routine from the sender’s side — “just sending a box of reagents to a collaborator” — is very often a regulated dangerous-goods shipment once it’s actually classified against these nine categories.

The Classification-to-Shipment Workflow

The DGR’s process is the same regardless of hazard class, though the specific packing instruction and paperwork differ by class:

1. Classify. Determine the material’s UN number, proper shipping name, hazard class (and subsidiary risk, if any), and packing group (I, II, or III, reflecting degree of danger — most goods below Class 6/7/9 have one). Safety data sheets (Section 14, Transport Information) are the usual starting point for chemical products, though the SDS classification isn’t automatically identical to the air-transport classification and should be checked against the current DGR table.
2. Select the packing instruction (PI). Each UN number/class combination maps to one or more numbered IATA packing instructions specifying container type, inner/outer packaging, cushioning, and maximum quantity per package.
3. Package to that instruction using UN-specification packaging — rated, tested containers marked with a UN packaging code, not arbitrary boxes, for anything above the DGR’s small “excepted quantity” thresholds.
4. Mark and label the outer package with the correct hazard class diamond(s), UN number, proper shipping name, and any required handling labels (e.g., “Cargo Aircraft Only,” orientation arrows for liquids).
5. Complete the Shipper’s Declaration for Dangerous Goods, unless the shipment qualifies for an exemption (see below).
6. Confirm the person preparing the shipment holds current, function-specific IATA DGR training — the DGR requires this before someone may classify, package, mark, label, or document a dangerous goods shipment, not just before they physically hand it to a carrier.
7. Offer the completed shipment to the carrier, who has independent authority to refuse it if anything is incomplete or inconsistent.

The Shipper’s Declaration for Dangerous Goods

For most fully regulated dangerous goods shipments, the shipper must complete a Shipper’s Declaration for Dangerous Goods — a standardized IATA form (or its data equivalent for e-freight) certifying the contents, quantities, classification, and packaging comply with the DGR, signed by a person with current DGR training. It is a legal attestation, not a customs form, and airlines will refuse a non-excepted dangerous goods shipment that arrives without one.

Two exceptions labs run into often: shipments meeting the DGR’s limited quantity or excepted quantity provisions (small amounts of certain lower-risk materials, packaged and marked to a simpler standard) do not require a full Shipper’s Declaration, and dry ice used only as a coolant (rather than as the primary regulated content) has its own simpler marking-only requirement under most circumstances, provided the outer package is correctly marked with the net quantity of dry ice and UN 1845. Whether a given shipment actually qualifies for one of these simplified paths is itself a classification decision — it isn’t a default assumption for “small” shipments.

Training and Certification

The DGR requires anyone who classifies, packages, marks, labels, or documents a dangerous goods shipment — or who decides a shipment is exempt from those requirements — to complete function-specific training before performing that role, and to renew it on a fixed cycle (24 months under the current DGR framework). This applies to lab staff just as much as to shipping-department employees; a postdoc who fills out packaging for a dry-ice shipment without current training is out of compliance even if a shipping office handles the paperwork. CASRAI’s dedicated guide on this — Hazmat Shipping Training and Certification Requirements for Lab Staff (DOT/IATA) — covers who counts as a “hazmat employee,” how the DOT and IATA training clocks differ, and how this training relates to (and doesn’t substitute for) general OSHA HazCom training.

Penalties for Non-Compliance

Shipping undeclared or misdeclared dangerous goods by air is not treated as a paperwork lapse. In the US, the DOT can assess civil penalties per violation under 49 U.S.C. 5123, and knowing or willful violations can carry criminal liability; internationally, ICAO Technical Instructions non-compliance exposes both the shipper and the carrier to regulatory action from national civil aviation authorities. Carriers also enforce their own consequences independently of government penalties — a shipper with a pattern of DGR violations can lose dangerous-goods shipping privileges with that carrier entirely, which is a real operational risk for a lab or core facility that routinely ships biological or chemical materials.

Related CASRAI Guides

The IATA DGR is the umbrella framework; several CASRAI guides cover specific pieces of it in more depth:

• Shipping Biological Substances by Air: Category A vs. Category B Classification Explained — the full Class 6.2 classification decision, UN numbers, and packing instructions (PI 620/650) for infectious substances.
• Cold-Chain Shipping Requirements for Biological Reagents — temperature ranges, coolant selection, and monitoring for temperature-sensitive shipments, a separate concern from hazard classification.
• Hazmat Shipping Training and Certification Requirements for Lab Staff (DOT/IATA) — who needs DGR training, what it must cover, and renewal cycles.
• How to Read a Safety Data Sheet — where a chemical’s transport classification (SDS Section 14) fits into the broader SDS.
• Common Lab Chemical Hazard Classes: A Primer — background on the hazard classes chemicals fall into before they’re ever offered for shipment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is IATA DGR training legally required for lab staff, or just recommended?

It’s required, not optional, for anyone who classifies, packages, marks, labels, or documents a dangerous goods shipment for air transport, or who signs the Shipper’s Declaration. This applies regardless of job title — the DGR defines the requirement by function performed, not by department.

What’s the difference between the IATA DGR and the ICAO Technical Instructions?

The ICAO Technical Instructions are the underlying international legal standard, published by a UN aviation body and binding on ICAO member states. The IATA DGR incorporates those instructions but adds additional, often stricter, airline- and state-specific “operator variations” — meaning a shipment can be ICAO-compliant and still be refused under DGR rules a specific carrier applies.

Does dry ice count as a dangerous good under IATA rules?

Yes. Dry ice is UN 1845, a Class 9 miscellaneous dangerous good, because it sublimates into carbon dioxide gas that can build up pressure or displace oxygen in an enclosed cargo hold. Packages containing dry ice must be marked with the net quantity and UN number even when a full Shipper’s Declaration isn’t otherwise required.

How often does the IATA DGR manual change?

IATA publishes a new edition annually, with updates effective January 1 each year. Labs that ship dangerous goods internationally by air should confirm they’re referencing the current edition rather than a saved PDF or printed reference from a prior year, since packing instructions and classification tables do change between editions.

What happens if a shipment doesn’t comply with the DGR?

At minimum, the carrier can refuse the shipment outright. Beyond that, regulators (the DOT in the US, or the relevant national civil aviation authority elsewhere) can assess civil or criminal penalties for undeclared or misdeclared dangerous goods, and carriers can independently suspend a shipper’s dangerous-goods shipping privileges after repeated violations.