There are instances where shipper(s) ask freight forwarders to sign the dangerous goods declaration. Also some freight forwarders offer such a service to shippers. Let us look at what IMDG Code states about signing the dangerous goods declaration.
The layout of the Multimodal Dangerous Goods Form, in chapter 5.4, is not mandatory, but the information required by chapter 5.4 is mandatory. There are two fields for signatures, box 20 packer and box 22 shipper.
Box 20 Packer
- Name of company
- Name/status of declarant
- Place and date
- Signature of declarant
The text of the packer’s certification is “I hereby declare that the goods described above have been packed/loaded into the container/vehicle identified above in accordance with the applicable provisions.”
MUST BE COMPLETED AND SIGNED FOR ALL CONTAINER/ VEHICLE LOADS BY PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR PACKING/ LOADING
The container packing certificate is not required for tanks.
Box 22 Shipper
- Name of company (OF SHIPPER PREPARING THIS NOTE)
- Name/status of declarant
- Place and date
- Signature of declarant
The text of the shipper’s certification is:
“I hereby declare that the contents of this consignment are fully and accurately described above/below by the proper shipping name, and are classified, packaged, marked and labelled/placarded, and are in all respects in proper condition for transport according to applicable international and national government regulations.”
As per IMDG Code 5.4.1.6.1 the certification must be signed and dated by the consignor.
Who is Shipper / consignor?
Shipper, for the purpose of IMDG Code, has the same meaning as consignor. Consignor means any person, organization or Government which prepares a consignment for transport.
I would like to invite the readers to submit their views whether freight forwarders can legally sign the dangerous good declaration.
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Comments received externally is added here
1. The forwarder acts as agent for the shipper, and can be the declarent on behalf of the shipper
2. This depends of the figure representing the shipper as an agent the shipper, the law changes among countries, when a freight forwarder represents the shipper as his agent, the forwarder may sign all documents on the shipper´s behalf.
3. This is a sticky issue. If the forwarder or 3PL actually has an sop with the shipper which they vet and follow for packing goods and a seperate one for stuffing a ctu and derive contracted terms to this whereby they accept full responsibility by derogation with full liability, and have adequate training and insurance then yes. In most other cases no. They must also have similar agreements in place to cover onward shipping and devanning and must also deal with multimodal elements such as ADR or ADG7 etc.,
4. If HBL aid used then shipper is the issuant of the DGD
5. Ethically the Shipper must sign the shipper (imo) declaration. In IATA there is a provision for freight forwarders to undertake the responsibilities of the shipper, if the shipper has employed them to do so 1.3.2 (d) and they do not have trained staff. In this case, the forwarder must be trained on all aspects to process dg on behalf of the shipper.
6. The purpose of the CPC is as set out in the note on the DGN, i.e. to ensure the container is loaded safely for a sea voyage and in compliance with the IMDG Code. It is not a “box-ticking exercise” to be carried out remotely. In my view, option #4 above can only apply if the ff oversees the loading operation. Re the designation choice below, I role is consultancy so none of these applies to me.
7. The packer according to the regs is the person/party responsible for packing DG into packages and not packing DG into container/vehicle. Therefore I believe that the vehicle “loader” at times does not have anything to do with packing packages. A seperate agreement should be made between the loader and packer.
8. The act of offering is completed by both parties one physically & one adminstratively
9. In my opinion is the forwarder is a third party and can not sign if not agreed
10. I am not sure if I’m correct with the 4th answer but would think a contract in place would suffice.
11. i feel no it should not be signed by forwarder at all
Freight forwarders, acting as such under the USA FMC definition, and NVOCCs, are different legal entities. Freight forwarders act on behalf of someone, NVOCCS act on their own account vis a vis shipping lines. In the first case the shipper and the consignor are the same person, in the second not, who must sign the DGD to be submitted to the shipping line when the actual consignor has no legal relationship with the shipping line as the actual shipper is the NVOCC?
With respect to the CPC, there is no doubt, must be sign by who physically supervised the container stuffing according to the IMDG rules.
Also need to consider that the actual consignor can delegate the DGD functions to a third party who, according with their contract and acting on consignor’s behalf, may sign the DGD. Is it correct?
It would require the existence of a legal document establishing the authorization to the freight forwarder to act on their behalf.
The starting point is flawed assuming that the document in question is the IMO Multimodal form when in fact the legally binding document is the TRANSPORT DOCUMENT which only requires the statement of certification. It does not contain either a declaration box 22 or box 20 for the container packing certification, which exists seperately.
In my opinion, the trained person packing marking and labelling the package is the only person who can know if it’s been done according to the regs. In the same way the trained person loading the CTU is the only person who can sign CPC. It’s unlikely the former is a forwarder but the latter could well be. Furthermore I’m not in favour of office based personnel signing dgn/dgd it should be done only by warehouse/plant personnel who actually do the packing marking and labelling before the goods are offered for shipment. The office based personnel may of course prepare the document.