Shipping documents are essential for the transportation of most dangerous goods. These documents must be stored in the cabin of the motor vehicle, held by the train crew member, on a support on the boat's bridge, or held by the captain of the aircraft. Each person who provides a shipping document must keep a copy of the shipping paper required by § 172.200 (a), or an electronic image of it, that can be accessed at or through their main business center and must make the shipping document available, upon request, to an authorized official of a federal, state or local government agency at reasonable times and places. In the case of hazardous waste, the paper copy of the shipment must be kept for three years after the initial carrier has accepted the material.
For all other hazardous materials, the shipping paper must be kept for two years after the initial carrier has accepted the material. Each paper copy of the shipment must include the date of acceptance by the initial carrier, except that, in the case of shipments by rail, ship, or plane, the date of the waybill, air bill, or bill of lading may be used instead of the date of acceptance by the initial carrier. A motor carrier (as defined in § 390.5 of subchapter B of chapter III of subtitle B) that uses an unchanged shipping document for multiple shipments of one or more hazardous materials with the same shipment name and identification number may keep a single copy of the shipping document, instead of one copy for each shipment made, if they also keep a record of each shipment made. This record should include information such as the name of the shipment, its identification number, quantity transported and date of shipment.
We do not agree that keeping a copy of a daily record of shipments made with a permanent shipping document increases any burden on record keeping. Nor do we agree that maintaining an up-to-date record of every shipment made under a “permanent shipment” document goes beyond legal requirements and current regulatory practice. We understand that withholding information like this on a daily basis is standard business practice for inventory and tax purposes and therefore does not represent an additional record keeping burden. Federal hazardous materials law requires that a shipping document be maintained for every shipment of hazardous materials.
Therefore, keeping a record of every shipment made under a permanent shipping document is fully consistent with this law. The current shipping paper requirement is adequate to ensure compliance with federal hazardous materials law. A person may not accept hazardous material for transportation or transport hazardous material by vessel unless they have received a shipping document prepared in accordance with part 172 of this subchapter, unless it is exempt from shipping paper requirements under this subchapter. A shipping document can consist of more than one page if each page is numbered consecutively and the first page has an annotation specifying how many pages are included in total. The information must be in writing, in English and presented on a related shipping paper or shipping document. A person may not accept hazardous material for transportation or transport hazardous material by road unless they have received a shipping document prepared in accordance with part 172 of this subchapter, unless it is exempt from shipping paper requirements under this subchapter.
We did not intend to eliminate any existing exceptions to shipping paper requirements for hazardous materials shipped pursuant to § 173.315 (m) or any other exceptions indicated elsewhere in HMR. Each person who receives a shipping document required by this section must keep an electronic copy or image of it which they can access in or through their main business center and must make it available upon request to an authorized official from a federal, state or local government agency at reasonable times and places. The shipping paper should be clearly distinguished from any other documents accompanying it either by tabulating it in a distinctive way or making it appear first. Section 172.602 (b) requires emergency response information to be presented either in a shipping document or in another document which includes both basic description and technical name of hazardous material (e). The proposal requires copies of shipping documents or electronic images to be immediately available at company headquarters. The NPRM proposed requiring that shipping documents be kept for 375 days (one year plus 10 days) to meet legal requirement to keep them for one year after completion of transportation. It must be entered in a color that clearly contrasts with any description on the shipping paper which is not subject to requirements under this subchapter except that description on reproduction of reproduction may be highlighted rather than printed in contrasting color (this paragraph applies only to basic description required in § 172.202 (a) (,) (,) () or. Thanks to fax machines and email functions companies can quickly transmit copies of shipping documents from shipping locations to headquarters. Each person who receives required shipping document must keep an electronic copy or image which they can access in or through their main business center and must make it available upon request to an authorized official from federal, state or local government agency at reasonable times and places. A person may not accept hazardous material for transportation or transport hazardous material without having received a valid shipping document.
This document must comply with all regulations set forth by federal law and should include all necessary information about the shipment such as its name, identification number, quantity transported and date shipped. The shipping paper should also include emergency response information such as basic description and technical name of hazardous material as well as any other relevant information required by law. In order to ensure compliance with federal regulations regarding shipping papers, companies should keep an electronic copy or image which can be accessed at their main business center and should make it available upon request to an authorized official from federal, state or local government agency at reasonable times and places. Furthermore, companies should keep records for each shipment made under permanent shipping documents. This record should include information such as name of shipment, its identification number, quantity transported and date shipped. Finally, companies should ensure that shipping papers are kept for 375 days (one year plus 10 days) after completion of transportation. By following these guidelines companies can ensure compliance with federal regulations regarding shipping papers, thus avoiding any potential legal issues.
