Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Globally
Harmonised Systems
The second ‘adaptation to technical progress’, or ATP, amending the direct-acting CLP Regulation was published in the EU Official Journal on 30 March 2011. It came into force on 19 April 2011 and will be legally binding for substances from 1 December 2012 and for mixtures from 1 June 2015.
The 2nd ATP is published as Commission Regulation (EU) No 286/2011. The ATP makes minor changes to keep the direct–acting CLP Regulation aligned with the UN Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling (GHS). The GHS is updated every two years to reflect evolving scientific progress. Periodic changes are then made to the CLP regulation to reflect these updates. The changes introduced by the 2nd ATP affect relatively few products and no significant impact is anticipated. The main changes are:
Other more minor changes include:
Official Journal of the European Union L83 - Legislation
ECHA has recently published guidance on CLP labelling and packaging. This guidance, available at the link below, contributes to ECHA’s existing suite of guidance that supports CLP:
The deadline for the notification of substances already placed on the market was 3 January 2011. If you missed this deadline and need to notify your substances, ECHA has produced a short Q&A to advise what you need to do:
ECHA has published a series of FAQs that provide advice, guidance and information which will help you comply with the CLP Regulation. The FAQs are agreed across all EU Member States to ensure that uniform and consistent advice is being applied throughout the EU.
The FAQs are updated from time to time and you should ensure that you check them regularly. New questions are always ‘flagged’ to help identify new information.
The list of ECHA’s FAQs was recently updated (November 2010). Follow the link below for the most up to date FAQs:
Notification is a new and very important duty in CLP. It is important that you understand what notification involves and, if you have to notify, that you do so on time.
If you already know about notification, you can click on the CLP/Notify banner and submit the relevant information.
If you are still unsure about notification or want to know more please read on.
The CLP Regulation (Article 40) requires manufacturers and importers to notify certain substances to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) for inclusion in the new Classification and Labelling Inventory. The Inventory has been set up by ECHA.
You will need to know about notification if you or your company carries out one or more of the following activities and places the involved substances or mixtures (preparations) on the market (ECHA’s Practical Guide on Notification, page 1):
manufactures substances (including isolated intermediates) subject to registration in accordance with the REACH Regulation;
ECHA has published a Practical Guide on CLP Notification which provides guidance on who needs to notify; what needs to be notified; how a notification should be done; together with an outline of the Classification and Labelling Inventory. There is quite a lot to think about and the Guide will help you decide what you need to do.
The Practical Guide is available on ECHA’s web site:
Section 2.4 in ECHA’s Practical Guide states: “As a general rule, you must notify the classification and labelling of a substance within one month of placing it on the market on or after 1 December 2010. For importers, the one month delay is counted from the day when a substance, on its own or contained in a mixture, is physically introduced in the customs territory of the Community”
The first working day in 2011 is 3 January. This means that the first notification deadline is 3 January, namely for all substances placed on the market on 1, 2 and 3 December 2010.
ECHA recommends that notifications are submitted from now on and well before 24 December 2010.
REACH allows non-EU parties to appoint an “only representative (OR)”, within the EU, to take on the duties that REACH places on importers on behalf of their supply chain. These duties may include submitting a REACH Registration. However a REACH OR does not have any role under CLP and cannot undertake the duties of an importer for CLP purposes (see section on REACH Registration and CLP Notification).
Where a substance has been registered under REACH (including by an OR) and the classification information has been determined using the CLP classification criteria, the duty to notify is deemed to be fulfilled and no further notification action is needed. (Article 40.1 refers).
An OR is not entitled to submit a separate notification to the Classification and Labelling Inventory.
If you have a question about the CLP Regulation, and you are based in the UK, you can ask the national CLP Helpdesk at: ukreachca@hse.gsi.gov.uk
If you are based in another EU Member State you should contact you own national CLP Helpdesk. Contact details of all EU national CLP Helpdesks can be found here:
ECHA has recently published short leaflets which flag up some of the general duties of the CLP Regulation and prompt certain chemical suppliers to remember their duties, especially if deadlines are approaching.
You should ensure that you keep up to date with new ECHA publications:
