[NHCOLL-L:2328] RE: Shipping Alcohol-Preserved Specimens

[Judith Price]

Ross

"Canada does not have the restrictions on mailing specimens..."

Unfortunately this is false.  Quite apart from the fact that Canada Post
does not knowingly accept any quantity of dangerous goods, any
interpretation of national regulations is secondary to international
regulation of shipping by air.  In other words, anyone who says the rules
are different in their country is wrong.

The United States Postal Service may have small quantities exemptions for
users of their service inside the USA, but some institutions are not
interpreting that as permission because as soon as a shipment is loaded on
an airplane it is subject to regulation by the International Air Transport
Association (IATA) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
Ground transport is different, but most carriers will require you to file
full air-transport TDG paperwork in case it is more expedient for them to
ship by air.

Yes, SPNHC has struck a committee to examine the possibility of getting a
variance for scientific work, but the number of factors involved may make
this very complicated.  We must also be aware that increased security
concerns in our modern world have made this process only more difficult.

Canadians who would like more information about Transport of Dangerous Goods
can consult the Transport Canada website at:
http://www.tc.gc.ca/tdg/menu.htm

Judith

Judith C. Price
Secretary, Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections
Please visit us at http://spnhc.org/
Assistant Collection Manager, Invertebrates
Canadian Museum of Nature
PO Box 3443, Station D
Ottawa, ON  K1P 6P4
jprice at mus-nature.ca
tel. 613 566-4263
fax 416 364-4027
 
Please visit us at www.nature.ca


-----Original Message-----
From: Ross MacCulloch [mailto:rossm at rom.on.ca] 
Sent: June 16, 2004 2:20 PM
To: nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:2314] Shipping Alcohol-Preserved Specimens

Canada does not have the restrictions on mailing specimens that the
States has (not yet, anyway). We always send specimens by mail (Air
Parcel Post). Most of our loan traffic is to and from other countries,
and shipping internationally by courier almost always involves a customs
broker, which results in a not inconsiderable fee. We will, however,
ship by courier if the recipient offers to pay the costs. As to Jamie's
point #2, we've never encountered a duty charge for mail shipments. We
always mark the package clearly to indicate that the contents have no
commercial value.

Ross

Ross D. MacCulloch
Assistant Curator - Herpetology
Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen's Park
Toronto
Ontario M5S 2C6