I read the Australian postal regs and they seem not terribly different
from the US Postal regs. In the US one can ship small quantities (up to
3) of secondary lithium batteries (rechargeables such as in our cameras)
in domestic mail but not international.
This seems to ignore that lithium battery shipments are arriving from
China via mail every day. I guess I violated the law when I shipped you
the E-M5 with battery. Airlines typically allow lithium batteries as
long as they are installed in the equipment. The digital world would
end if that wasn't possible. I suspect that I left the battery
installed when I shipped the E-M5 but don't recall. I don't see that as
any different than flying with your camera bag with battery installed.
I suspect that Chinese ebay sellers are selling and shipping hundreds of
lithium batteries to NZ every day. Given the very slow delivery I
suspect that crossing the big pond is done by ship. A small lithium
battery fire would not be as threatening on a ship as on an airplane.
I was having some difficulty finding the NZ regs but eventually did so
and they are here:
<https://www.nzpost.co.nz/personal/sending-within-nz/prohibited-restricted-items#restricted-items>
If you read only the "prohibited" items list it would appear that NZ
post will not handle any lithium-ion battery. But if you go further
down to the "restricted" list you will see that sending two (properly
packaged) lithium-ion batteries is allowed.
Chuck Norcutt
On 9/4/2016 11:09 AM, bj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Thanks to Chuck, Moose, Wayne and Frank for insightful comments.
I
am really unsure which battery I used ( original or alternative).
It
seems to me that battery availability for micro 4/3 cameras could become
an issue to be wary of.
I cannot find any online place in NZ which
stocks them. Any Australian sellers will not send to me as there are
severe legal penalties for couriers or the postal service in Australia
transporting lithium batteries. To do so is illegal.
I actually bought
mine from a seller in New York and had to buy a charger with them. They
took forever to arrive. The NY price was much more reasonable than
alternatives.
Brian
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