Shipper's Certification Requirement

This is in response to your letter regarding the requirements in 49 CFR 172.204(a) and 177.817(b) as they apply to a shipper's certification on a shipping paper under the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180). I apologize for the delay in responding and hope it has not caused any inconvenience.

You stated that one your company's drivers received a written warning from an officer of the State of Wisconsin, Department of Transportation, Office of Motor Carrier Safety, because the shipper's certification was not included on the delivery receipts for two different hazardous materials which had been picked up the previous day from two different shippers. At the time of the inspection, the shipments were being transported with your company's in-house delivery receipts, created from the information contained on the original bills of lading, which functioned as the shipping papers for these two shipments. You asked whether the delivery receipt containing all the required information except for the shipper's certification is acceptable; and whether a copy of the original shipping paper must be attached to the delivery receipt.

Each person who offers a hazardous material for transportation must certify that the material is offered for transportation in accordance with the HMR by printing and signing one of the shipper's certification provided in 49 CFR 172.204. Each carrier must maintain the certification showing that the shipment accepted was prepared in accordance with the HMR. However, nothing in the HMR requires that the shipper's certification must be on any subsequent paperwork (e.g., delivery receipts) prepared for that shipment. As you stated, § 177.817 requires that each hazardous material must be accompanied by a shipping paper that is prepared in accordance with §§ 172.200, 172.201, 172.202 and 172.203. The shipper's certification is required by § 172.204. It is not necessary to attach a copy of the original shipping paper to the delivery receipt.