Online giant Amazon UK has been found guilty of breaching dangerous goods regulations. The UK Civil Aviation Authority brought the prosecution before Southwark Crown Court last week and it is widely reported that Amazon had to pay a fine of £65,000.

Amazon was brought before the court on Friday 23rd September for four counts of ‘causing dangerous goods to be delivered for carriage on an aircraft’. The dangerous goods included lithium – ion batteries as well as flammable aerosols, and the company attempted to get them on the aircraft between January 2014 and June 2015 that were headed for the UK and on flights outside of the country. Since the 1st April this year, it has been illegal to take lithium-ion batteries as cargo on passenger aircraft.

The court found that the retailer broke the regulations under the Air Navigation (Dangerous Goods) Regulations 2002. “The safety of aviation and the public is paramount and that’s why there are important international and domestic restrictions to prohibit the shipping of certain goods that pose a flight safety risk,” said Kate Staples, the CAA’s general counsel. “These dangerous goods include lithium batteries, which are banned from being transported as mail or cargo on a passenger aircraft unless they are installed in or packed with equipment.

“We work closely with retailers and online traders to ensure they understand the regulations and have robust processes in place so their items can be shipped safely.”

A spokesperson from Amazon said: “The safety of the public, our customers, employees and partners is an absolute priority.  We ship millions of products every week and are confident in the sophisticated technologies and processes we have developed to detect potential shipping hazards. We are constantly working to further improve and will continue to work with the CAA in this area.”

 
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