Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Hazardous Material Violation; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Returned To Gate; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Maintenance Action
Procedure; Human Factors
While taxiing to the runway; Flight Attendant called the flight deck and informed me that there was a passenger with a 'smart bag' on board and that it had a non-removable battery. She said that she had just reviewed the regulations concerning smart bags and realized that the bag was not authorized in the cabin. I informed the Captain and we returned to the gate where a customer service agent disassembled the bag enough to remove the battery. The Captain said he had been aware of the bag but thought it was authorized because the battery was not removable. The event was caused by a misunderstanding of the rules. A contributing factor was the unusual situation of a bag with non-removable battery. A habit of taking the time to reference the regulations when there is a doubt may be a good way to avoid such mistakes. Also asking other crew members for input; as I was not aware of the situation until we were taxiing.
CRJ-700 First Officer reported receiving Flight Attendant notification during taxi of an unauthorized smart bag in the passenger cabin.