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IMDG Dangerous Goods Awareness study materials
IMDG Dangerous Goods Awareness study resources

IMDG Dangerous Goods Awareness: Limited quantities, excepted quantities and exceptions

IMDG Dangerous Goods Awareness · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

All guide sections

Limited quantities, excepted quantities and exceptions

What this domain tests

This domain tests the relaxations the Code allows for small consignments and the limits that keep them small: what is permitted, what is still required, and when a substance is excluded altogether.

Limited quantities

  • Chapter 3.4 applies when the quantity per inner packaging does not exceed the value in the limited quantity column of the Dangerous Goods List, and the gross mass of the package stays at or below 30 kg.
  • Typical limits are 0.5 L or 0.5 kg for PG I, 1 L or 1 kg for PG II and 5 L or 5 kg for PG III.
  • The limited quantity mark is required, and the transport document must state that the goods are a limited quantity. Hazard labels and UN number marking are not required.

Excepted quantities

  • Section 1.1.3.6 uses codes E1 to E5, which set the maximum net quantity per inner packaging and per package.
  • Packages carry the excepted quantity mark showing the class number. Beyond that, most Code provisions, including the full dangerous goods transport document, do not apply.

Other exceptions

  • Certain substances are excluded by a special provision or by the general exceptions in 1.1.3. Limited and excepted quantities are not available for every entry: the columns may show zero, and class 1 (other than 1.4S), self-reactive substances, organic peroxides, infectious substances and class 7 have no such relief.

Worked example

Six bottles of 0.5 L each of a class 3 PG II substance, packed 8 kg gross. Reasoning: the PG II limited quantity limit is 1 L per inner packaging, each bottle holds 0.5 L, and 8 kg is below 30 kg gross, so limited quantity is available. Mark the package, state 'limited quantity' on the document. If the same substance were supplied in 20 mL vials under an E2 entry, excepted quantities would apply instead: excepted quantity mark, no full transport document. The two regimes are never mixed.

Traps

  • Confusing limited quantity limits with excepted quantity codes.
  • Using limited quantities where the column shows zero.
  • Forgetting the limited quantity statement on the document.