Prohibited and Restricted Items

Last updated 18 August 2026. Some goods cannot travel at all, some can travel only with prior approval, and some are perfectly legal at origin but restricted at destination. This page tells you which is which before you book, because a shipment stopped for a declaration fault is the most expensive kind of delay there is. It should be read with our Terms and Conditions of Carriage and our Refund and Claims Policy.

1. Why this list exists

Every carrier, airline, shipping line, terminal and customs authority in the chain applies its own rules, and those rules are enforced by people who cannot see inside your box until it is already in their building. If an undeclared restricted item is found mid-journey, the consequences fall on the shipment rather than on the paperwork: the consignment is held, the whole container or aircraft build-up can be delayed, and in some territories the goods are seized and destroyed without compensation.

We would far rather have an awkward conversation at quotation stage. Tell us what the goods actually are, including the components inside them, and we will tell you whether they can move, by which mode, and what documentation they need. That conversation is free and it takes about five minutes.

2. Items we never carry

These are refused on every service, every mode and every lane, regardless of documentation, licence or value:

• Weapons, ammunition, explosives, military ordnance and their component parts.
• Illegal drugs, controlled narcotics, precursor chemicals and drug paraphernalia.
• Counterfeit goods, pirated media and items that infringe trade marks or copyright.
• Human remains, human organs, body parts and untreated biological waste.
• Live animals, and any product derived from a protected or endangered species regulated under CITES.
• Radioactive material, fissile material and radioactive waste.
• Cash, bearer bonds, negotiable instruments, uncut precious stones and bullion.
• Pornographic material involving minors, and any content whose production or possession is itself an offence.
• Goods whose carriage would breach sanctions, export controls or an embargo applying to us, to you, or to any party in the transport chain.

If you ask us to carry something on this list we will decline the booking, and where the law requires it we are obliged to report the request. This is not a matter of commercial discretion.

3. Items that need prior approval

The following can usually travel, but only if they are declared at booking so the correct mode, packaging, documentation and handling can be arranged. Approval is normally granted the same day.

• Dangerous goods of all classes, including flammable liquids, corrosives, oxidisers, compressed gases, aerosols and toxic substances. A safety data sheet is required and the packaging must be UN approved and correctly marked.
• Lithium batteries, whether loose, packed with equipment or installed in equipment. State the watt-hour rating, the cell chemistry and the quantity per package; airlines apply different rules to each configuration.
• Alcohol, tobacco and vaping products, which need excise documentation and are subject to destination licensing and quantity limits.
• Pharmaceuticals, medical devices, vaccines and clinical samples, which need temperature control, licence references and often a permit at destination.
• Food, drink, plants, seeds, timber and animal products, which need health, phytosanitary or veterinary certification and are the single most common cause of border holds.
• Chemicals, paints, adhesives, fuels, oils and lubricants, including apparently harmless consumer products that are classified as hazardous in bulk.
• Cosmetics and perfumes, which frequently contain alcohol and are treated as flammable liquids by air.
• High-value electronics, watches, art, antiques and jewellery, which need a declared value, all-risk cover and sometimes a secure or escorted service.
• Magnetised material, dry ice, engines and machinery with residual fuel or oil, all of which have specific packing and declaration requirements by air.
• Firearms parts, replica and deactivated weapons, and body armour, which require licences and are prohibited outright in some destinations.
• Personal effects, used household goods and vehicles, which need inventories, ownership evidence and, in many countries, an inspection.
• Waste and material for recycling, which is subject to transfrontier shipment controls and prior written consent between authorities.

Approval is given in writing against your booking reference. Please do not assume that because a commodity moved last month it will be accepted this month; airline embargoes, seasonal restrictions and sanctions lists all change without notice.

4. Country-specific restrictions

A commodity that is unremarkable in one market can be controlled in the next. Drones and satellite communication equipment, encryption products, medicines available over the counter at home, alcohol, certain foodstuffs, printed material, second-hand clothing and vehicle parts are all restricted somewhere on our network, and the list changes constantly.

We check destination rules as part of quoting, not afterwards. Where an import licence, prior permit, registration or local agent is required, we tell you before the cargo is collected and we tell you who has to obtain it, because in most territories the importer of record must apply personally and we cannot do it for you.

Sanctions and export controls are checked against the parties as well as the goods. If a consignee, a bank or an end use appears on a control list we will stop and ask questions, and we would rather lose the booking than move a shipment we are not confident is lawful.

5. Packaging and declaration duties

The declaration is a legal statement made in your name, and the packaging is what keeps that statement true in a moving container. Your obligations are:

• Describe the goods accurately and specifically. “Samples”, “spare parts”, “gift” and “machinery” are not descriptions and will be queried.
• Declare the correct HS code, quantity, weight and commercial value, and provide the invoice and packing list that match them.
• Disclose every hazardous or restricted component, including batteries inside a device and residual fuel inside an engine.
• Use packaging appropriate to the mode, the journey and the stack height, and mark and label it as the regulations require.
• Provide safety data sheets, certificates, licences and permits at booking rather than on request at the border.
• Tell us if any part of the consignment is destined for a military, nuclear, aerospace or surveillance end use.

If you are unsure how to pack something, ask. Our packing crews will specify or supply the packaging, and a shipment packed to our specification is covered by our handling responsibility rather than sitting in the grey area of shipper-packed cargo.

6. If a prohibited item is found

We will stop the consignment, tell you the same day, and explain the options and the costs before doing anything irreversible. Depending on the item and the jurisdiction, those options may include returning the goods to you at your cost, arranging lawful disposal, or surrendering them to the authority that has an interest in them.

Charges already incurred are not refundable in these circumstances, storage runs from the day the consignment is held, and fines, penalties or clean-up costs imposed on us because of an undeclared item are recharged at cost. Where the law requires disclosure to a customs, aviation or law enforcement authority, we will comply and we will tell you that we have done so.

None of this is intended to be punitive. Almost every case we see is an honest mistake by somebody who did not know that a lithium cell, a bottle of perfume or a wooden pallet could hold a container. Declaring it removes the problem entirely.

7. Not sure about your goods?

Send us the specification, the safety data sheet or simply a photograph of the label, and a licensed broker will tell you the same day whether it can travel, by which mode, and what it needs. There is no charge for this whether or not you go on to book, and there is no such thing as a question that is too basic to ask.

Email info@transatlantic-expres.com or call the freight desk on +1 507 201 9651, answered 24 hours a day. For anything already in motion, contact the control tower on bookings@transatlantic-expres.com so it can be dealt with before the next cut-off.

8. Related policies

Declaration duties, liability and data handling are dealt with elsewhere. Read this list together with the three documents below before you book anything unusual.

• Terms & Conditions — your warranty that the goods are correctly described, and our right to stop, return or dispose of a consignment found to be restricted.
• Refund & Claims Policy — why an undeclared restricted item voids cover, and what happens to freight already paid on a consignment we have to stop.
• Privacy Policy — the licences, permits and end-user statements we collect for controlled goods, and the authorities we are obliged to share them with.

If your commodity is not clearly on or off this list, send the tariff code and a short description to info@transatlantic-expres.com before you book. A written answer takes a few hours; an unbooking at a border takes days.