What is new in IMDG Code amendment 42-24

DGAssistant issues the sea documentation under amendment 42-24 of the IMDG Code, mandatory since 1 January 2026. Amendment 41-22 is no longer valid, and a safety data sheet whose section 14 still cites it will hold up your shipment.

New entries in the list

The amendment adds sodium-ion batteries, both on their own and installed in equipment, with UN 3551 and UN 3552. It also adds vehicles propelled by lithium-ion, lithium-metal and sodium-ion batteries under UN 3556 to UN 3558, fire suppressant dispersal devices under UN 3559 and tetramethylammonium hydroxide in aqueous solution under UN 3560.

Carbon stops being exempt

Special provision 925 disappears, so carbon can no longer be kept outside the Code by that route. In its place comes SP978, which sets out how the material is defined, how it has to be weathered before shipment and how it must be packed. If you ship charcoal or activated carbon, this is the change that affects you most.

Stowage, packagings and documents

A new stowage code, SW31, keeps substances that release flammable gases on contact with water at a distance from ignition sources. Recycled plastics material now covers intermediate bulk containers explicitly. And section 14 of the safety data sheet has to reference the amendment in force.

What you have to do in DGAssistant

The application already applies the amendment: the entries, the segregation, the stowage codes and the EmS references come from it, and the multimodal form and the container packing certificate are issued accordingly. Review your predefined products of carbon and your sodium-ion battery entries, and ask your suppliers for safety data sheets that quote amendment 42-24.