Technical Working Group

The EC set up a Technical Working Group (TWG) to look in detail at how the UN GHS system, implemented in the EU through the Regulation on the Classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures (CLP), will impact on Seveso.

(Note: the full title of the TWG is the 'Technical Working Group on Seveso and GHS' and many other documents refer to the implications for Seveso of 'GHS'.  However, since the EU has now implemented the GHS system through the new CLP Regulation, these Seveso website pages will generally refer to CLP rather than GHS.)

Experts from the COMAH Competent Authority represented the UK and UK industry was represented by the Chemical Business Association, the European Process Safety Centre and the European Aerosol Federation.

What is the role of the TWG?

The TWG examined how each of the main categories of dangerous substances in Annex 1 Part 2 of Seveso could be aligned with the new CLP classifications. 

• Health hazards
• Physio-chemical hazards
• Environmental hazards

• The EC has published a report of the work of the TWG

Objectives of the Group

• Collect information and to provide specific and detailed guidance on the impact of the new GHS classification system on the Seveso II Directive.
• Identify appropriate GHS categories considering the hazard potential of dangerous substances and mixtures corresponding to the 10 categories in Annex I Part 2.
• If necessary, the Technical Working Group should establish temporary sub-groups to technically assess specific GHS categories, for example for health hazards or for physico/chemical hazards.
• For those categories not fully matching the categories in Annex I Part 2:
• Develop options considering the hazard potential of substances and bearing in mind the aim of a clear, simple system, keeping the GHS categories as far as possible intact.
• Estimate the likely impact of these options (substances concerned, number of establishments possibly covered).