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IATA's New Lithium Battery Regulations Can Affect Your Overseas Electronics Purchases

By Joy Hou - on 18 Dec 2013, 3:55pm

IATA's New Lithium Battery Regulations Can Affect Your Overseas Electronics Purchases

A laptop's li-ion battery. (Image source: Wikipedia.)

Come 1 January 2014, new regulations relating to lithium batteries of the IATA (International Air Transport Association) will kick in. From that date onwards, some lithium batteries or combinations of batteries cannot be shipped as they will be considered as "dangerous goods". To avoid inconvenience (and disappointment), read the gadget's specifications carefully before purchasing it.

Generally, lithium-ion batteries with laptops, cameras, mobile phones, etc will be limited to a single battery (that's within the product), and one additional spare battery. Still, you might want to double-check the following, just in case.

The following batteries CANNOT be shipped:-

Lithium-ion batteries with

  • over 2.7Wh and less than 100Wh per battery and more than two batteries per box, OR
  • over 2.7Wh and less than 100Wh per battery and more than 8 cells per package

Lithium metal batteries with

  • over 0.3g lithium and less than 1g lithium per battery and more than two batteries per box, OR
  • over 0.3g lithium and less than 1g lithium per battery and no more than 8 cells per box

To calculate Wh:

mAh/1000 x V (volts),

where mAh = milliamps, and V = volts.

For a full list of regulations for lithium batteries, click here.

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