International air transport creates special problems of taxation. This was a concern even before World War Two. IATA makes specific challenges to the legality of certain taxes and points out to governments the counter-productive effect of excessive aviation taxation in general. User Charges - payment for using airports and air navigation services - mushroomed during the 1960s and 70s. IATA's task is to minimize their impact by ensuring that the charges are for facilities actually required, that charges are cost-related and that productivity improvements are built into cost projections. Currency earned by airlines abroad is sometimes blocked by the central bank of the country in which it is earned. IATA works to free it, for transfer back to the airline that earned it.
Unit Load Devices, or ULDs - principally, containers - allow rapid, economical cargo handling. IATA Members developed the technical specifications for containers and created a ULD control centre, to keep track of their movements. Until 1955, there was a complete embargo on the air transport of toxic, flammable or corrosive materials. Then IATA developed Dangerous Goods Regulations for their safe carriage. A decade later, Live Animals Regulations provided for suitable standards for the in-flight welfare of animals.