Ever since substance groups instead of individual substances have been undergoing evaluation, the number of substances that require harmonized classification and labeling (CLH) has risen significantly. Just last year some 1,900 substances were involved – three times as many as in the year before. Of those, 1,650 are registered under…
Japan is updating its Industrial Safety and Health Act (ISHA). The revision means that companies must meet new requirements for safety data sheets (SDS) and the labeling of substances. The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (MHLW) announced the revised law (in Japanese) on May 31, 2022. According to…
In written comments sent to members of CARACAL (Competent Authorities for REACH and CLP), the [German] Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin: BAuA) noted disparities in the regulations that apply to substances of very high concern (SVHCs). When they are added to a mixture,…
Vietnam wants to change the labeling, safety data sheets (SDS), and reporting requirements for chemicals subject to restrictions on use. The related consultation runs until June 26. The draft (Vietnamese only) published at the end of April by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) calls for updating the chemicals…
The United Kingdom has published the consolidated versions of the REACH and CLP laws and of the UK Cosmetics Regulation. The versions now reflect all the changes made to the EU REACH, CLP, and Cosmetics regulations after Brexit. UK REACH has been in effect in Great Britain (England, Wales, and…
In an open letter to the EU Commission, seven companies and the international environmental organization ChemSec call for clear legal requirements for safety data sheets (SDSs). The current legal specifications for mixtures are inadequate to drive appropriate chemicals management, says the letter. Concretely, the companies operating in the most varied…
At the end of April, the EU Commission published its Restriction Roadmap. The core documents of the road map are lists of thousands of critical chemicals that are to be removed successively from the market in the next few years. They are primary chemicals that have been identified as: Carcinogenic,…
On May 3, the EU Commission published Delegated Regulation 2022/69 in EU Official Journal, thereby updating Annex VI of the CLP Regulation (1272/2008). This eighteenth Adaptation to Technical Progress (ATP) takes effect on November 23, 2023. A total of 39 entries were added, 17 were revised, and one was deleted….
The EU Commission has added perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts, and PFOA-related compounds to Annex V of the PIC Regulation (EU Regulation No. 649/2012), and published the related Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/643 on April 20. As a result, the export of fire-extinguisher foams that contain these substances is prohibited as…
Because of their potential endocrine-disrupting or reprotoxic effect, the use of 34 bisphenols is to be restricted, according to a press release issued by the ECHA. The Agency made this decision after an assessment of 148 bisphenols that it carried out with agencies from various EU member states, including Germany….