Shipping lithium batteries by air changed on January 1, 2026.
The IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations 67th Edition made the 30 percent state of charge limit mandatory for standalone lithium ion battery shipments, and extended state of charge requirements to certain batteries packed with equipment and to battery powered vehicles. If your declarations and work instructions predate the change, they are now out of date paper waiting for an acceptance desk to notice.
Who this touches
- Importers and makers of e-bikes, power stations, drones, and battery powered devices, exactly the companies clustered across Orange County and the Inland Empire.
- Anyone shipping standalone lithium ion batteries by air: replacement packs, spares, warranty returns, engineering samples.
- Defense and space hardware companies moving flight batteries and powered assemblies on deadlines.
Why it matters now
The FAA verified 93 lithium battery air incidents in 2025, a record, and issued a national safety alert on lithium fire risk. Published penalties in this wave include $260,000 for a shipment found smoking at UPS Ontario, $170,000 after batteries melted together in a FedEx sort, and $74,250 for undeclared e-bike batteries shipped by an Ontario, California company.
A second regulatory wave is queued: PHMSA has proposed aligning US domestic rules with the state of charge limit, so a process fixed once now survives both.
Carriers enforce the current edition at acceptance, not the edition your template was built under. Declarations, marks, and test summaries that were fine in 2025 can bounce today, and every bounce costs the slot, the deadline, and a data point in the carrier's file on you.
What to do about it
Before you tender the next lithium shipment, have the paper checked against the current rules. Our $95 pre-check reviews your completed declaration line by line, state of charge statements included where the entry requires them, and returns an advisory report with a citation for every finding within 24 hours. You verify the findings, correct, and sign. You keep the pen.
We advise. We never promise carrier acceptance or certification, and the shipper of record signs their own declaration. What we promise is that your paper has survived the same checks the acceptance desk will run, before the acceptance desk runs them.
Pre-check your lithium DGD before the carrier sees it
$95 flat, 24 hours, every finding cited. Shipping weekly? The 10 pack is $750 and the monthly desk covers up to 25 checks for $1,250.
Pre-check my DGD · $95 → Email the DGD