Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Globally
Harmonised Systems
Within the European Union (EU), Member States asked the European Commission to prepare a proposal for a Regulation which would implement the UN GHS criteria in all EU Member States.
The European Commission proposed the Regulation on Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Substances and Mixtures (known as the CLP Regulation). The CLP Regulation was considered in detail during negotiations between Member States, the Council and the European Parliament, between July 2007 and June 2008. The UK was represented by the HSE throughout the negotiations.
On 3 September 2008, the European Parliament voted to secure a First Reading deal with the Council on the CLP Regulation. The CLP Regulation will be published in the Official Journal towards the end of the year, and we are expecting it to come into force in late 2008/early 2009.
The CLP Regulation will be direct-acting in all EU Member States, requiring no national transposition. Its provisions will be phased in over a period of years until 1 June 2015 when the Regulation will be fully in force. This is intended to help suppliers and users of chemicals change from the current EU classification and labelling system to the new GHS-based system.
The Regulation provides a transition period to allow a gradual migration from the existing system to the new regime. This transition period is up to 7 ½ years (the Regulation will apply to the classification of substances from 1 December 2010, and to the classification of mixtures from 1 June 2015). The transitional period will end on 1 June 2015 when the CLP Regulation enters fully into force.
Over time, the CLP Regulation will replace the:
These Directives have been implemented in the UK as the Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations (known as CHIP). The CHIP regulations will need to be adjusted slightly to include the necessary enforcing regulations to deal with the CLP Regulation, and to ensure that domestic law keeps up to date with the changes at European level during the transitional period. HSE will be consulting on the proposed changes to CHIP before the end of 2008. Details will appear on the HSE consultations web site.
Both the European Commission and HSE have consulted on the CLP Regulation.
The European Commission ran an Internet-based consultation on a draft Regulation based on the UN GHS from 21 August to 21 October 2006.
For further information please see:
The non-confidential replies and comments from respondents (including the UK Government Response) are available on the EC website (above).
The HSC (now the Board of the Health and Safety Executive) consulted on the proposed Regulation in 2007, through a Consultative Document (CD). The timing of the Consultative Document (CD No 213) was determined by the publication on 27 June 2007 of the EC’s formal proposed Regulation on the Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Substances and Mixturesm and the immediate start thereafter of Member State negotiations and consideration in the European Parliament. The HSC consultation ran from 14 August – 2 November 2007. A copy of the CD can be found on the HSE consultations website.
The CD included an initial Regulatroy Impact Assessment (RIA). The RIA invited respondents to comment on the assumptions made about the estimated costs and potential benefits of implementing the proposed Regulation in the UK. Where respondents challenged these assumptions, they were further invited to provide evidence and/or justification for any proposed amendments based on, for example, their experience of current classification, labelling and packaging activities and the anticipated changes. The RIA was updated to take into account the comments received.
A copy of the report on the outcome of consultation is available:
A copy of the final RIA can be found on the HSE RIA website.