On April 12th, 2014, The ICAO Dangerous Goods Panel (DGP) formally decided to prohibit the carriage of lithium metal batteries as cargo on passenger aircraft. This decision has still to be formally ratified by the ICAO Air Navigation Commission (ANC) and the ICAO Council. That process is expected to take place at the ANC in May and Council in June.

The consequence of the decision is that, unless the ANC or Council decide otherwise, lithium metal batteries of all types, when shipped by themselves, will be forbidden on passenger aircraft as cargo as of 1 January 2015. As such we would expect only UN3090 for Lithium Metal batteries which are classified as Class 9 – Miscellaneous dangerous goods to be affected but not shipment shipped under UN3091 which is Lithium metal batteries contained in equipment,

It is clear from the ICAO DGP Meeting that this is just the first step in looking further at the risk posed by shipments of lithium batteries. Indeed long term it may well be that Lithium metal batteries will not be allowed on any aircraft, PAX or otherwise,

As the prohibition rule will only apply to such batteries when shipped ”by themselves” it is unlikely to have such a wide effect to shippers in general as it is a minority that ship batteries only. The types of commodities it might affect are hi-tech and Retail, depending if the batteries are packed and shipped separately.

The term Lithium battery refers to a family of batteries with different chemistries, comprising many types of cathodes and electrolytes.

Lithium metal batteries are generally primary (non-rechargeable) batteries that have lithium metal or lithium compounds as an anode.

Lithium-ion batteries (sometimes abbreviated Li-ion batteries) are a type of secondary (rechargeable) battery commonly used in consumer electronics.

See the original article here http://www.bifa.org/content/home.aspx