Shipping samples to Diamond

Firstly, please ensure that you have submitted your Experimental Risk Assessment (ERA) through the UAS platform, and that it has been validated by the Diamond Safety SHE department, as shown in the image below. You should have received an email confirming the ERA approval as well.

UK and EU based academic users can ship their samples using their preferred courier, although Diamond recommends using DHL.

Please provide as much information as possible about the nature of the samples, including a sentence stating that the samples are expected by a Diamond Scientist to complete the experiment, and that they comply with all the required Safety arrangements to be shipped (please also quote the experiment label mgXXXXX-Y).

For EU users, shipping with tracked delivery is advisable, as sometimes samples get retained/stopped at the borders.

Unless you are shipping a high value sample/holder, please indicate a low value in the “sample cost” section (i.e., £10), as otherwise there may be an extra charge/tax payment in order to clear customs.

Ideally, you should address your parcel to the attention of your local contact, so they are informed as soon as it arrives, but inform them once you ship the parcel with all the details (tracking number, estimated time of arrival, etc). The postal address to use is shown below:

Goods Handling,
Synchrotron Zone 8,
Diamond Light Source Ltd,
Harwell Science & Innovation Campus,
Didcot
OX11 0DE
Phone No: +44 1235  395381
([email protected])

For users outside of UK/EU, check instructions from the UK customs at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-trade-tariff-customs-procedure-codes/imports-home-use-with-simultaneous-entry-for-free-circulation#customs-procedure-codes-starting-with-40-00. These instructions should be given to your courier with a request to contact Goods Handling ([email protected]) for a copy of the NIRU certificate and confirmation to use this procedure.

It may be beneficial to investigate methods for temporary exporting and importing with your shipper, as well as the requirements to clear customs in your country of origin.