New CLP Hazard Classes: Industry Sees Thwarting of Global Harmonization

The European Chemical Industry Council (Conseil Européen des Fédérations de l’Industrie Chimique: CEFIC) criticized the push of the EU Commission to introduce new hazard classes soon. Chemical Watch quoted the Council as saying “as CEFIC, we see this direction as alarming,” because the step works against plans to establish global, uniform hazard communication. In the past, the GHS regulations, in fact, were always the standard for the hazard classification of chemicals.  

Yet the EU sees that it is high time to act and proposed three new hazard classes as part of its EU chemicals strategy for sustainability:  

• Endocrine disruptors 
• Persistent bioaccumulative toxic (PBT) and very persistent and very bioaccumulative (vPvB) substances  
• Persistent, mobile, and toxic (PMT) and very persistent and very mobile (vPvM) substances 

In particular, the EU wants to prohibit endocrine disruptors – chemicals that act similarly to  
hormones and therefore have immuno- and neurotoxic effects – from consumer products as quickly as possible.  

These are the next steps in the process:  

• After publication of a road map in April, the EU Commission will start a 12-week feedback phase.  
• An initial draft of revisions of the CLP Regulation is planned for September. 
• The revised Regulation should be approved by the end of 2021.   

Please feel free to direct any questions about GHS in general to us at sales@kft.de.