Regulated Air Cargo Agent (RACA) –
Requirements as required by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)

As a handler of dangerous goods and all other cargo for international export, your facilities, the cargo you process and the personnel that do this, are required to meet new standards set by the CAA. Basically any involvement with exports involves new compliance rules. A brief outline follows:

Facility Requirements:
A RACA’s facilities must be capable of providing a secure environment for receiving
consignments of cargo or mail, applying security controls, storing consignments, and delivering the consignments to the air operator to ensure that consignments are not tampered with and to prevent the introduction of any weapon, explosive, or other dangerous device or substance that may be used to commit an act of unlawful interference. The exact nature of the facilities required may depend on the nature and scale of the RACA’s operations and the scope of the services the organization intends to provide. The following information is provided for guidance purposes.

The facilities must be arranged to ensure that the RACA’s personnel are able to distinguish between a consignment of cargo or mail from an unknown customer and a consignment of cargo or mail that has had security controls applied to it or is known cargo. One method of achieving this may be to have storage areas within the facilities divided so that a clear distinction is maintained between cargo or mail that has been screened or come from a known customer, and cargo or mail that has been received from an unknown customer. Another method may be to have the cargo or mail that is screened or known clearly labelled as such.

Trained Personnel:
The rules require all personnel employed by –
• Regular shippers of dangerous goods and their agents
• Operators who accept dangerous goods for carriage by air
• handling agents who accept dangerous goods for carriage by air
• Agencies, organisations and persons, other than operators, involved in processing or carrying either passengers or cargo
• Agencies involved in the security screening of passengers and their baggage who conduct a function associated with the carriage of dangerous goods by air, to have satisfactorily completed a dangerous-goods training programme and thereafter dangerous-goods recurrent training every two years.

Appropriate Labels and Seals:
A form of protection must involve the use of a seal or process of sealing the consignment. You must be able to show that the cargo or mail has not been tampered with. 
 

The Solution:
Dangerous Goods Management (DGM) is your local service provider. We can assist with onsite compliance, the training of staff, and the packaging and labeling of all mail and cargo to meet the RACA requirements. We provide total assistance in complying with the new regulations. All queries please email Andrew Malcolm andrew@dgm.co.nz
we will be providing courses, to find out dates and how to book, ring our training school and ask for Steve (09) 275 5559