Incident Reporting Requirements for Excepted Packages of Class 7 (Radioactive) Material Citation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration · Sep 21, 2015 · Reference No. 15-0141
Interprets: 49 CFR § 173.422(c), 49 CFR § 174.750, 49 CFR § 175.700(b), 49 CFR § 175.705
Reggie’s quick take
A company that asked about incident reporting for excepted packages of radioactive material (Class 7) pointed out that § 173.422(c) cites § 175.700(b) when it should cite § 175.705. The agency agrees. It says the air-transport reporting rules moved to § 175.705 in an earlier rule, but § 173.422(c) was never updated. Until a future rulemaking fixes the reference, incidents involving excepted packages of Class 7 material shipped by air should follow § 175.705.
Written by AI (Claude) on Oct 22, 2026. Robots make mistakes and leave things out, so the letter below is what counts. Not legal advice.
This responds to your July 7, 2015 request for clarification of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) as they apply to the incident reporting requirements for excepted packages of Class 7 (radioactive) material. Specifically, you suggest that there is an error in § 173.422(c), which incorrectly references § 175.700(b) instead of § 175.705.
As currently drafted, § 173.422(c) requires excepted packages that are leaking or from which a release has occurred to comply with the reporting requirements in §§ 174.750, 175.700(b), or 176.710 dependent on the mode of transportation. In a final rule published under Docket Number RSPA-02-11654 (HM-228) [71 FR 14586], the reporting requirements for Class 7 (radioactive) material transported by air were moved from § 175.700(b) to § 175.705 without a corresponding revision to § 173.422(c). We will correct this reference in a future rulemaking. In the interim, we recommend that incidents involving excepted packages of Class 7 (radioactive) material transported via air comply with the requirements prescribed in § 175.705 since the present § 175.700(b) is not relevant to incident reporting.
I hope this information is helpful.
A letter of interpretation applies the regulations to the facts the requester described. It isn’t a regulation and isn’t legal advice. The agency’s copy.