• Detailed information about the dangerous goods to be shipped must be provided in a transport document that accompanies each shipment.

A consignor offering dangerous goods for transport must provide the carrier with the information that applies to those dangerous goods. The information may be provided on a dangerous goods transport document or, with the agreement of the carrier, by electronic data processing (EDP) or electronic data interchange (EDI) techniques.

When EDP or EDI techniques are used, the consignor must be able to produce the paper document, without delay, with the information in the sequence required by the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code.

Document format

A dangerous goods transport document may be in any form, provided it contains all information required by the IMDG Code. If both dangerous and non-dangerous goods are listed in one document, the dangerous goods must be listed first, or be emphasized by another method. The document may be more than one page, provided the pages are consecutively numbered. The information on the document must be easy to identify, legible, and durable.

The dangerous goods transport document must include:

• The name and address of the consignor and the consignee of the dangerous goods, and
• The date the document (or the electronic copy of it) was prepared or given to the initial carrier.

Records retention

The consignor and the carrier must retain a copy of the dangerous goods transport document and additional information and documentation specified in the IMDG Code for a minimum period of three months. When the documents are kept electronically or in a computer system, the consignor and the carrier must be able to reproduce them in a printed form.