[NHCOLL-L:2873] RE: brazil

[Bentley, Andrew Charles]

Mariko

I would strongly advise against sending specimens to Brazil.  We have had numerous problems with specimens either being returned undelivered or worse, being impounded or destroyed.

The major problem with sending specimens to Brazil and many other South American countries (amongst others worldwide) is that all international shipments of dangerous goods in excepted quantities (which is the way natural history specimens are classified for shipment if you use less than 30ml of alcohol per internal container and 500ml total) are required to be sent by courier (Fed-Ex, UPS or DHL depending on who you have a dangerous goods contract with).  No international shipments may be sent by USPS according to DOT regulations which do not allow international shipments of excepted quantities.  International shipments are governed by IATA regulations which do allow excepted quantities shipments by courier.  The problem arises in that the courier companies do not have the authority to ship dangerous goods within the destination country and so your shipment will be delivered to the international airport and no further.  There are a number of countries that have more stringent regulations governing the shipment of dangerous goods within their countries.  The courier companies are constantly updating the list of countries that this applies for as it is constantly changing.  Brazil, however, consistently appears on the list.

SPNHC and NSCA are in the process of trying to figure all of this out by attempting to get special dispensation for natural history specimens added to the DOT and IATA regulations.  This will take time though and in the meantime there is no easy solution to this problem.

I would be happy to send you (or any other interested party) the relevant regulations that apply to these various situations.  The main thing to remember is that in order to use excepted quantity regulations you are required to be trained in shipping and packing of dangerous goods

I would be very interested to hear of other experiences that people have had or of any solutions that people may have come up with.

Hope that helps

Andy

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Andy Bentley
Ichthyology Collection Manager
University of Kansas
Natural History Museum & Biodiversity Research Center
Dyche Hall
1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561
USA

Tel: (785) 864-3863
Fax: (785) 864-5335
Email: ABentley at ku.edu        :
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