Lithium Battery Mark Generator

Any outer package containing lithium-ion or lithium metal batteries — whether cells and batteries shipped alone, or finished equipment such as phones, laptops, power tools, robot vacuums, Bluetooth speakers, or energy-storage devices shipped with their batteries — must carry a Lithium Battery Mark on the outside of the package whenever it's shipped under an exception provision (Section II of the relevant IATA DGR packing instructions, or the equivalent IMDG provisions). This mark has fully replaced the older Lithium Battery Handling Label since January 1, 2019; the old style is now rejected outright.

The rule of thumb is simple: if the package contains lithium batteries and isn't being declared under the full Class 9 dangerous goods provisions, it almost certainly needs the mark. If the shipment is declared under the full provisions, it instead needs the diamond-shaped Class 9 lithium battery hazard label. In some cases (such as batteries shipped under Section IB), both the Class 9 label and the Lithium Battery Mark must appear together on the same package.

An easy thing to overlook: small batteries count too — built-in lithium polymer cells, coin cells on a circuit board, the one-time lithium cells in remote controls and water meters, all fall under the same lithium battery provisions. Cross-border e-commerce parcels, samples, and repaired returns are no exception either — many sellers assume "it's just one phone case with a small battery" and don't need a mark, only to have an entire shipment held at the sorting hub.

A memory trick: the 348x numbers are lithium-ion, the 309x numbers are lithium metal; within each pair, the lower number ships alone (3480, 3090) and the higher number ships with equipment (3481, 3091). Getting this wrong isn't cheap — misdeclaring finished equipment as a standalone battery shipment gets it flagged for extra screening or returned.

If the same outer box contains both "equipment with a battery inside" and "spare batteries shipped alongside it," or mixes lithium-ion and lithium metal products, the mark can list multiple UN numbers side by side — the most common combination is UN 3481 with UN 3091 on the same mark. That's exactly why this tool supports multi-select: check a few boxes and they display side by side, with the font size auto-scaling to fit.

Size is a hard requirement: the mark is rectangular, minimum 100 mm wide × 100 mm high. Only when the package genuinely can't fit that may it be reduced to no smaller than 100 mm wide × 70 mm high — the commercially common 105 × 74 mm roll label falls exactly in this tier. The border must be a red hatched band at least 5 mm wide, with both the hatching direction and the red color clearly visible.

The most common print failure is a washed-out border: printing on an office black-and-white laser printer turns the red hatching gray, or cheap thermal paper prints the red as orange and fades to pink after a few days. Airport cargo terminals and shipping lines check this closely — a gray border is an automatic reject. The second most common issue is trimming into the border: a misaligned die cut shears off part of the red border, leaving the hatched band under 5 mm. When printing roll labels, always leave enough bleed and never crowd the mark content against the finished edge.

Other requirements: the symbol (battery pack + flame) must be black, on a white or otherwise clearly contrasting light background; the UN number must match what's actually inside the box; the phone number at the bottom must actually connect, to someone who can describe what battery is inside. The mark should sit flat on one face of the outer package — not folded across an edge, and not placed over the box's opening flap or a sealing seam (it's destroyed the moment the box is opened) — and it can't be covered by tape, a shipping label, or a strapping band.

Standalone batteries (UN3480 / UN3090, batteries shipped alone) are the most tightly controlled category in lithium battery shipping. By air, standalone lithium batteries are no longer eligible for exception shipping and must be handled under the full Class 9 dangerous goods provisions: a dangerous goods declaration, certified UN-spec packaging, the Class 9 lithium battery hazard label, and typically a state of charge (SOC) limited to 30% of rated capacity for lithium-ion cells and batteries, with a Cargo Aircraft Only label required in addition under some packing instructions. Ocean transport (IMDG) is comparatively more permissive — exception provisions remain available — but still sets clear limits on the number of batteries, watt-hours, and packaging strength per package.

Batteries with equipment (UN3481 / UN3091) split further into two cases: contained in equipment, and packed with equipment (shipped alongside the device as spares). The latter carries extra limits on how many spare batteries can be included, and requires each spare to be individually packaged with insulated terminals to prevent short-circuiting. Both cases share the same UN number, but the applicable packing instructions and per-package weight limits differ, and the goods description on customs and shipping documents needs to distinguish between them clearly — in practice, a fair share of returned shipments trace back to a vague description that left the cargo terminal unable to tell which category actually applied.

This tool only draws the mark correctly and to spec — which declaration category actually applies to your shipment depends on the mode of transport (air / ocean / ground), the battery's watt-hour rating or lithium content, and the quantity per package, so confirm those details with your forwarder or carrier.

These two are frequently confused, but they serve entirely different purposes and can't substitute for each other. The Lithium Battery Mark — the rectangular one this tool generates — has a white background, red hatched border, black battery/flame symbol, UN number, and phone number. It's used on shipments made under an exception provision, and its job is to tell handlers "this box contains lithium batteries, handle with care, call this number with questions."

The Class 9 lithium battery hazard label (also called the 9A label) is a 100 × 100 mm diamond (a square rotated 45°): the upper half shows the battery pack and flame symbol with seven vertical black bars, and the lower corner carries an underlined number "9." It's used on shipments declared under the full Class 9 dangerous goods provisions, is part of the hazard label system, and must be paired with a dangerous goods declaration and UN-spec packaging.

The short version: the rectangle is the mark, for exception shipments; the diamond is the hazard label, for fully declared shipments. In some cases (such as batteries shipped under Section IB) both must appear on the same package. There's also an orange "Cargo Aircraft Only" label required alongside them under certain packing instructions — all three are labels our factory regularly prints, and we can produce a matched set in one run.