European Commission draft Regulation on Classification and Labelling of Substances and Mixtures based on the UN Globally Harmonised System (GHS)

This consultation ran from 21st August 2006 until 21 October 2006.

Summary

All over the world there are different laws that control how the hazardous properties of chemicals are described and how this information is passed to users. This can be confusing because one chemical can have different descriptions in different countries. For example, a chemical can be labelled as flammable in one country, but not in another.

The United Nations brought experts from different countries together to create the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS).

The aim was to have, worldwide, the same:

• Criteria for classifying chemicals according to their health, environmental and physical hazards, and,
• Hazard communication requirements for labelling and safety data sheets

The UN GHS is not a formal Treaty, and is not legally binding.

The European Commission has proposed a draft Regulation that will bring the current EU system into line with the UN GHS agreement, and is inviting comments.

The UK Government will also reply formally.

• View the consultative documents (http://consultations.hse.gov.uk/inovem/consult.ti/ghschemicals/listdocuments)
• View the online discussion on the proposals, and put your own comments (http://consultations.hse.gov.uk/inovem/consult.ti/ghschemicals/messagelistthreads)
• Register to receive updates about the consultation (http://consultations.hse.gov.uk/inovem/consult.ti/ghschemicals)
• In the future, the GHS web page will contain more detail about the system

This consultation closed on 21 October 2006