DRW Monthly
April 2009
Issue No. 29

EU Adopts Classification, Labeling and Packaging Regulation to Align itself with UN's Globally Harmonized System

The European Parliament and the Council of Ministers adopted Regulation EC No. 1272/2008 on the classification, labeling and packaging of substances and mixtures (CLP Regulation). Approved 16 December 2008 and entered into force 20 January 2009, the CLP Regulation incorporates the terminology, evaluation principles and criteria established in the United Nations (UN) Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS).(1) The CLP Regulation and the GHS share the common approach of defining health, environment and physical hazards and dividing them into classes as well as communicating these hazards via labels and safety data sheets.(2) As is true of the UN's GHS, the primary goal of the EU's new system is to ensure that chemical hazards are described and labeled in the same way throughout the world. It is also hoped that uniform labeling and classification will promote international trade and increase global efforts to protect humans and the environment from chemical hazards. To this end, the CLP Regulation introduces new classification criteria, hazard symbols (pictograms) and labeling phrases, while simultaneously including elements from the earlier EU legislation.

In addition, the CLP regulation will also replace provisions delineated in the REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and restriction of Chemicals) Regulation (EC No. 1907/2006.) REACH, which was adopted by the EU in December 2006 and became effective 1 June 2007, is mainly concerned with the registration of hazardous and nonhazardous substances, mixtures and articles imported in quantities over one ton per year. The CLP Regulation, by comparison, is only concerned with hazardous substances and mixtures, in any specific quantity. Therefore, even if a company imports or markets a hazardous substance in quantities of less than one ton a year, it may have to comply with the CLP Regulation's classification, labeling and packaging requirements.(4)

Companies will have a seven-year transition period to adjust to the new system. Between 2009 and 2015, the CLP regulation will gradually replace all of the current EU rules on classification, labeling and packaging of substances (Directive 67/548/EEC) and of preparations (Directive 1999/45/EC). The transition period will last until 1 December 2010 for substances, and until 1 June 2015 for mixtures. Moreover, to assist companies, the CLP Regulation contains a translation table in Annex VII for converting Dangerous Substances Directive classifications into CLP Regulation classifications.(3) As with previous EU legislation, the CLP regulation requires companies to self-classify their substances and mixtures before placing them on the EU market. "Self-classification requires the evaluation of available information and identification of the appropriate classification, but there is no requirement for new test data. Companies must then notify the European Chemical Agency of their classification and labeling decisions under REACH."(5)

Although CLP is a European regulation, it will impact all industries that conduct business in the EU. Consequently, companies need to consider the changes they may be required to implement to the classification, packaging and labeling of hazardous substances and mixtures they have placed on the EU market as well as any necessary amendments to their safety data sheets.

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