In October, 2024, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) issued the 66th edition of DGR (Dangerous Goods rules), starting from January 1, 2025, the 66th edition of IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR) and the 12th edition lithium battery transportation regulations (LBSR) come into force.

From January 1, 2026, when air transportation, and lithium ion battery lithium ion batteries packed together with power supply equipment and vehicles will need to be transported by air when the batteries are in a low charging state. These changes have been adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization and included in the technical rules for safe air transport of dangerous goods (technical rules) from 2025 to 2026.

The main changes are as follows:

change 1: Add UN number and packaging description

added UN number of sodium ion battery

UN 3551: sodium ion battery

UN 3552: sodium ion battery is packaged with equipment or sodium ion battery is packaged in equipment

PI 976,PI 977,PI 978: for organic electrolyte sodium ion battery

change 2: Power limit and packaging requirements

1. For lithium ion batteries and lithium metal batteries, from January 1, 2025to December 31, 2025, cell or the charge (Soc) of the battery is not recommended to exceedOver 30%, or indicates that the battery power does not exceed 25%. After December 31, 2025, these limits will be imposed on the amount of battery charge exceeding 100Wh. (The packaging instructions of PI965 and PI966 are annotated, which restates that low-charge batteries are not prone to safety accidents such as thermal runaway during transportation.);

2.3m stacking test requirements are added to the packaging instruction section of lithium ion battery PI966, PI967 and lithium metal battery PI969 and PI970 to ensure the strength and safety of packaging;

3. For sodium ion batteries, by December 31, 2025, cell or the charge of the battery is also recommended to not exceed 30%. The following charge limit and packaging requirements will be implemented with reference to the relevant provisions of lithium ion batteries.

Change 3: tag and tag changes

the "lithium battery label" is renamed "battery label". The label is applicable to lithium batteries and new sodium batteries. The label pattern remains unchanged and the corresponding UN number needs to be identified.

The name of "Class 9 Dangerous Goods label lithium battery" is changed to "Class 9 Dangerous Goods label lithium ion and sodium ion battery".

Change 4: Other related updates

change of transportation number of vehicles driven by lithium battery: before March 31, 2025, vehicles driven by lithium battery will also be transported according to UN 3171. After March 31, 2025, vehicles driven by lithium batteries need to be transported according to the new UN number (such as UN 3556 or UN 3557).

To sum up, IATA's "dangerous goods rules" 66th edition (2025) has made a comprehensive and detailed update on the transportation regulations of lithium batteries. These updatesIt aims to improve the safety and reliability of lithium battery transportation and ensure the safe operation of air transportation.