Transporting healthcare and life science products such as vaccines or medication quickly and safely is more important now than ever. Not only are the products themselves time and temperature sensitive, but the people they are meant to help must be assured of the effectiveness and all time availability.

The TCR contains all the information and requirements you need to ship compliant temperature-sensitive products. Accessing up-to-date carrier and government regulations, packaging requirements and documentation before you ship, reduces losses and improves patient health.

What's inside the TCR?

  • Applicability (shipper and carrier responsibilities, special handling conditions and transport conditions, compliance)
  • Government regulations (compliance requirements, variations by country)
  • Carrier regulations (general information, requirements and carrier variations)
  • Pharmaceutical facts and product types (temperature levels, market trends, product categories, biomedical research)
  • Packaging (general information, types and categories of packaging)
  • Documentation and labelling (specific documents, handling codes, labelling, marketing, WHO vaccine references)
  • Acceptance and control (processes, hazard analysis, cold chain management, handling information)
  • Traceability and tracking (general, RFID)
  • Air transport logistics (service levels, temperature ranges, packaging technology, risk factors, critical control points, temperature mapping, healthcare labelling, quality management, environmental considerations)

 

Still not sure if the TCR is for you? Download the full table of contents.

Stay up-to-date

Significant Changes to the 13th edition (2025) of the IATA Temperature Control Regulations (TCR) include: 

2–State Variations 

  • Section on Government Regulatory Agencies moved to Appendix A-Competent Authorities

3–Operator Variations 

  • Amendments to Operator Variations for:
  • China Airlines–CI 
  • China Southern Airlines–CZ
  • Emirates–EK
  • Flydubai–FZ 

7–Documentation 

  • Section 7.1 Air Waybill restructured and rewritten for clarity. Example of Air Waybill updated.
  • Content from former Chapter 17 moved and restructured to section 7.2 IATA Acceptance Checklist for Time and Temperature Sensitive Healthcare Shipments.
  • Section 7.3 Special Load-Notification to Captain renumbered, and content revised.
  • Section 7.4 Aircraft Operation Related Documents renumbered, and content revised.

9–Marking and Labelling 

  • Addition of examples of Time and Temperature Sensitive labels.
  • Addition of section 9.1 on shipper’s general responsibility.
  • Section 9.2 Marking renumbered, and content revised.

10–Handling Procedures 

  • Content from former Chapter 8 Acceptance and Control and Chapter 17 restructured and revised.

Appendix A–COMPETENT AUTHORITIES  

  • Creation of a new appendix with general information on competent authorities.
  • Addition of Regulatory Agencies

Nomenclature 

  • Creation of sections 2.1 Technical Abbreviations and 2.2 Cargo Handling Codes.