IATA issues no generic “IATA certification”. It publishes standards, which anyone may apply, and it grants accreditations and certifications to named companies for a defined scope. Confusing the two is the most common error on this subject.
This guide sorts it out: what the association certifies, what it merely publishes, the place dangerous goods hold within it, and what a provider's accreditation actually changes for you.
What is IATA certification?
IATA brings the airlines together and sets common industry rules that no single state or company could impose alone. Certifying, for the association, means establishing that a named player applies those rules, and entering it in a register it maintains.
It is therefore neither a commercial label nor a state certification. It is professional recognition, granted under distinct programmes depending on the trade, and reviewed periodically. A title is lost as readily as it is earned.
Three different certifications along the air chain
These three titles share neither their object, nor their holder, nor their scope. Only one concerns you when you are looking for a provider.
| What gets called “IATA certification” | What it applies to | When it matters to you |
|---|---|---|
| Air cargo agent accreditation | A company and its declared locations | When choosing your forwarder |
| Training certificate | An operator's competence, attested by the employer | Never directly: it is the provider's internal obligation |
| Safety audits (flight, ground) | The airline or the ground handler | Never directly: they cover operations, not your shipment |
Only the first concerns the organisation of your shipments. In the rest of this guide, “IATA certification” therefore means air cargo agent accreditation.
What cargo agent accreditation covers
The review looks at the company as a whole: its financial standing, how it keeps its files, the security of its shipping chain, the training of its teams and its compliance with industry rules. It is an organisational review, not a self-declaration, and it holds for the declared locations, not for a network as a block.
Alongside this general accreditation, the association runs specialised sector programmes, for the pharmaceutical cold chain or perishables for instance. These are additional layers covering identified sites: an accredited company does not hold them automatically.
Dangerous goods: what accreditation changes, and what it does not
This is the most visible aspect of the subject. The binding rules come from ICAO's technical instructions; IATA publishes their operational implementation each year as a manual that airlines recognise. Nine classes cover all the substances concerned.
| Class | Nature | Everyday examples |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Explosives | Fireworks, ammunition |
| 2 | Gases | Aerosols, fire extinguishers, cylinders |
| 3 | Flammable liquids | Perfumes, solvents, paints |
| 4 | Flammable solids | Matches, powdered metals |
| 5 | Oxidisers and peroxides | Some disinfectants, hardeners |
| 6 | Toxic and infectious substances | Pesticides, diagnostic specimens |
| 7 | Radioactive material | Medical sources, measuring instruments |
| 8 | Corrosives | Acids, bases, lead batteries |
| 9 | Miscellaneous dangerous goods | Lithium batteries, dry ice |
Plenty of ordinary products fall into these classes without their trade name hinting at it: composition decides, and the safety data sheet settles it. You will find no numbers and no quantity limits here: those change with every annual edition of the manual and are checked at the date of the shipment.
What accreditation changes for a shipper
Accreditation allows a forwarder to operate directly within the IATA framework: to issue the air waybill, the document that travels with the shipment and sets the contract with the airline, and to deal with the carrier without always having to rely on an accredited peer. For you, that means a single contact, for tracking as for a claim. Accreditation does not, however, move the line of responsibility:
| On a dangerous goods shipment | Your responsibility | Ours |
|---|---|---|
| Classifying the goods | Yes, from the safety data sheet | We check the file holds together |
| Choosing and closing the packaging | Yes, packaging approved for the substance | We tell you what the airline expects |
| Marking and labelling the package | Yes | We check before handover |
| Shipper's declaration | Yes, it commits you | We prepare it with you |
| Booking and documenting the flight | No | Yes, air waybill included |
| Import and export customs clearance | No | Yes, through our customs department |
On sensitive shipments the difference shows mostly upstream: an accredited agent can say early what will travel, what will not, and on what conditions. That is time saved, because goods refused at departure stay on the ground until the file is rebuilt.
IATA standards and certification: not the same thing
One last point, which most pages on the subject leave out. A standard is a text: a manual, a reference document, a resolution, bought and applied, with no title granted to anyone. A certification is a status: it is granted to a named company after review or audit, and entered in a register. Applying a standard certifies nothing, and holding an accreditation exempts you from no standard.
| IATA standards (texts) | IATA certifications (statuses) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Manuals and resolutions describing how to proceed | Titles granted after review or audit |
| Who is concerned | Anyone shipping or handling cargo | A named company, for a defined scope |
| Examples | The dangerous goods manual, the air waybill rules, the data exchange standards | Cargo agent accreditation, the specialised sector programmes |
| How you get it | You obtain it and apply it | You apply, you are reviewed, you keep it or lose it |
| What it proves | Nothing in itself: compliance is proved on the shipping file | That the organisation has been checked by the association |
How to check that a provider is accredited
The question is rarely asked. It deserves to be: an accredited provider says so plainly and can explain what its accreditation covers, for which locations, and since when.
Our accreditation, and what we do with it
Freight Solutions is an IATA accredited air cargo agent. The accreditation takes effect in early September 2026, across all of its branches. Our air freight specialists, based in Blagnac, handle the air leg of the network's files: building the consignment, routing, documents and customs clearance. You keep your usual contact.
An air shipment to prepare?
Nature and weight of the goods, dimensions, departure and arrival airports, target date. For goods classed as dangerous, add the safety data sheet.
Request a quoteFrequently asked questions
- Is IATA certification mandatory to ship by air?
- No. You can use a provider that is not accredited; it will then go through an accredited peer. Accreditation does not condition the shipment, it conditions the ability to handle it directly.
- Is an IATA training certificate enough for a company?
- No, these are two separate things: the certificate evidences one person's training, the accreditation applies to the company's organisation. A firm with a trained employee is not thereby an accredited cargo agent.
- Who remains responsible for classifying dangerous goods?
- The shipper. It identifies the class from the safety data sheet, chooses approved packaging and signs the shipper's declaration. Our role is to check, to flag and to build the file alongside them, not to stand in their place.
- Is an IATA accredited cargo agent the same as a regulated agent?
- No. Cargo agent accreditation comes from IATA and governs trade between agents and airlines. Regulated agent status, like known consignor status, belongs to air cargo security and is granted by the authorities.
- Does accreditation cover every branch of a group?
- Not necessarily: it applies to the declared locations. It is worth asking, especially if the branch handling your file is not the one that applied.
Sources
- IATA: Cargo Agency Programme · the conditions for air cargo agent accreditation
- IATA: manuals and standards · the catalogue of standards published by the association
- IATA: dangerous goods · the working manual for the carriage of dangerous goods by air
- ICAO: dangerous goods · the international technical instructions, source of the binding rules
- IATA: specialised cargo certifications · the sector programmes, distinct from the base accreditation
