HSE
Annex I to the Dangerous Substances Directive (67/548/EEC) identified the hazardous properties (classifies) around 8000 substances. These classifications were agreed by experts at European level and are known as ‘harmonised’ classifications. These harmonised classifications cover safety (eg explosivity, flammability), health (eg acute and chronic toxicity, carcinogenicity) and environment (eg toxicity to the aquatic environment).
When the CLP Regulation (No 1272/2008) entered into force on 20 January 2009, it repealed Annex I to the Dangerous Substances Directive, but immediately re-enacted the list of harmonised classifications. These classifications now appear in Table 3.2 in Part 3 of Annex VI* to the Regulation and are still legally binding on chemical suppliers.
As before, this list will be extended and revised periodically by Commission Regulations agreed by a comitology procedure. These amending Regulations are known as Adaptations to Technical Progress or ATPs.
* Table 3.2 in Part 3 of Annex VI, gives the harmonised classifications expressed using the criteria and terminology used in the Dangerous Substances Directive. Table 3.1 in Part 3 of Annex VI, gives the same list of harmonised classifications expressed using the criteria and terminology used in the CLP Regulation.
The 1st Adaptation to Technical Progress adds several hundred new entries and amends several hundred existing entries in the list of substances and their harmonised classifications. Harmonised classifications help industry by avoiding the need for self-classification and by creating a level playing field for manufacturers, suppliers and importers.
These new and revised entries first appeared in the proposed and agreed 30th and 31st ATPs to the Dangerous Substances Directive. The 1st ATP, therefore, incorporates both the 30th and 31st ATPs.
Member States agreed the 1st Adaptation to Technical Progress (ATP) on 10 August 2009 and it was published in the Official Journal on 5th September 2009, as Commission Regulation No 790/2008. The 1st ATP has an implementation date of 1 December 2010, and from that date will have direct legal force. Consequently, Member States will not have to implement the 1st ATP into their national legislation.
