The Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) (Amendment) Regulations 2008 enter into force on 1 October 2008. The regulations implement into national legislation European Commission Directive 2006/8/EC, commonly known as the second Adaptation to Technical Progress of the Dangerous Preparations Directive (the 2nd ATP).
The changes do not affect the main legal duties but do adjust:
As a result of some of these changes, chemical suppliers may need to take account of any large quantities of newly re-classified chemicals they have stored on site at any one time to ensure that they comply with the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1999 (as amended).
A copy of the Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) (Amendment) Regulations 2008 can be downloaded here:
European Commission Directive 2008/58/EC – commonly known as the 30th Adaptation to Technical progress to the Dangerous Substances Directive (the 30th ATP) was adopted by Member States on 16 February 2007 and was published in the Official Journal on 15th September 2008. The 30th ATP can be downloaded here:
The timescale for implementation of the 30th ATP is 1 June 2009 - deliberately longer than is usual. The same implementation date has been used for the 31st ATP, which was agreed by Member States on 19 November 2008.
The longer implementation date reflects the intention that the proposed EC Regulation to adopt the GHS in the EU will be agreed before this date. This Regulation will take the existing Annex 1 of Dangerous Substances Directive, together with all the adaptations to technical progress, convert the entries to GHS classifications and labels, and insert them in a new Annex that will act directly at EU level. As the 31st ATP has only recently been voted and has yet to be formally adopted, the European Commission intended to implement both the 30th and 31st ATPs as a 1st ATP to this new EC Regulation.
The practical consequence is that the UK and other Member States will not need to implement the 30th and 31st ATPs into national legislation (in our case CHIP).
The formal proposal for the 31st ATP is available here:
Globally Harmonised System of Classification (GHS)
The UK is committed to the development of a global scheme for the classification and labelling of chemicals through the UN. This is a long term project which will require new law (EU and UK) to put in place. Further information can be found on the UN web site, EU website and the HSE website.
REACH is a new European Union regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of CHemicals. It came into force on 1st June 2007 and replaces a number of European Directives and Regulations with a single system. Further information on REACH can be found here:
