Dangerous goods documentation: what has to match, and why one line holds the shipment

A dangerous-goods shipment doesn’t fail because the cargo is unsafe. It fails because two documents disagree — a UN number on the declaration that doesn’t match the safety data sheet, a trade name where the proper shipping name should be, a packing instruction left off. The freight is fine; the paperwork holds it. Here is how to keep the paperwork clean.

The chain: SDS → DGD → shipment

Every DG declaration is built from one source and has to agree with everything downstream.

1. The safety data sheet (SDS) is the origin. Section 14 — transport information — gives the UN number, proper shipping name, hazard class and packing group. If the SDS is out of date, everything built on it inherits the error.
2. The dangerous-goods declaration (DGD) is where the shipper formally declares and certifies the goods. Air calls it the Shipper’s Declaration; sea, the Dangerous Goods Note.
3. The package — marks and labels — must show what the DGD says.
4. The commercial invoice and packing list must describe the same goods in the same quantities.

Acceptance is essentially a cross-check of those four. Any mismatch is a stop.

What actually gets checked

When a carrier or forwarder reviews a DG shipment, the recurring failure points are:

• UN number — correct for the exact configuration (a battery in equipment is a different number than alone).
• Proper shipping name — the regulated name, not a brand or catalogue name.
• Class and packing group — matching the SDS, where a packing group applies.
• Packing instruction — followed and referenced, especially for lithium batteries.
• Quantity and packaging — within limits, correctly described.
• Marks and labels — present, right size, right place, undamaged.

None of these are judgment calls. They’re either consistent across the documents or they’re not.

Three rulebooks, one per mode

The requirements differ by how the freight moves, so the same cargo can need a differently-built declaration:

• Sea: the IMDG Code, including segregation of incompatible goods.
• Air: the IATA DGR — tighter, especially on lithium.
• US ground: 49 CFR (the DOT hazardous materials regulations).

A declaration prepared for ocean isn’t automatically valid for air. Decide the mode before the DGD is drawn up, not after.

When you might need less paperwork

Not every DG shipment needs a full declaration. Smaller amounts of qualifying products may move as a limited quantity — a distinctive mark, reduced requirements, often no DGD — or, smaller still, as an excepted quantity. The relief is real but the per-package limits are strict and enforced. It’s worth checking whether your shipment qualifies before defaulting to full DG.

How to keep it clean

• Start from a current SDS every time — don’t reuse last year’s.
• Match the UN number to the actual packing configuration.
• Use the proper shipping name verbatim.
• Make the invoice, packing list, marks and DGD describe one shipment, identically.
• Fix the mode first, then prepare documents to that rulebook.

We prepare IMDG, IATA and 49 CFR declarations in-house and align them to your commercial documents before booking — so one inconsistency never holds the whole shipment. Send us the SDS and the shipment details and we’ll handle the rest.