Chemicals

Classification (CLP-GHS) archives

On this page:

Stakeholder Consultation
Commission proposal
Impact Assessment
Criteria on Human Health and the Environment
Downstream legislation
Related Commission proposals
Technical Assistance to the European Commission on the Implementation of the GHS
Preparation of the Annexes
CLP-Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008

On 27 June 2007, the European Commission adopted a proposal (COM(2007) 355 final) for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures, and amending Directive 67/548/EEC and Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006. This proposal takes account of the comments received during public stakeholder consultation in autumn 2006. Together with the proposal, the Commission presented an impact assessment to the European Parliament and to the Council.

Further background and state of play pdf - 41 KB [41 KB]

Stakeholder Consultation

The Commission launched a public stakeholder consultation on the internet from 21 August to 21 October 2006. All stakeholder replies were published on the internet. Some 370 contributions were received. 82% were sent by industry - associations or companies; of the 254 company responses, 45% came from enterprises with less than 250 employees. 10 NGOs and one trade union responded.

18 Member State governments and/or public authorities sent comments. Non-EU public authorities (Iceland, Norway, Switzerland; Romania was not yet a Member State at that time) gave input as well. No international organisation sent comments. 97% of the responses supported the implementation of the GHS in the EU and 96% of these by means of a Regulation.

Based on the replies and comments, the Commission Services drafted an evaluation of the stakeholder replies pdf - 46 KB [46 KB] . The points raised by the various stakeholders were considered and widely taken up in the revised proposal.

See the stakeholder consultation on the GHS draft Regulation

Commission proposal

The proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures, and amending Directive 67/548/EEC and Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 - legislative text as adopted on 27 June 2007 by the European Commission (COM(2007) 355 final) is available below in English.

Volume I pdf - 244 KB [244 KB] - Volume I msw8 - 370 KB [370 KB]

Explanatory Memorandum and Enacting terms

Volume II pdf - 794 KB [794 KB] - Volume II msw8 - 2 MB [2 MB]

Annex I - Classification and Labelling Criteria of hazardous substances and mixtures

Volume III pdf - 2 MB [2 MB] - Volume III msw8 - 9 MB [9 MB]

Annex II - Special rules for labelling and packaging
Annex III - List of hazard statements
Annex IV - List of precautionary statements
Annex V - Pictograms
Annex VI - Harmonised list of hazardous substances
Annex VII - Conversion table for reclassification

Volume IIIa pdf - 2 MB [2 MB] - Volume IIIa msw8 - 9 MB [9 MB]

Entries of Annex I to Council Directive 67/548/EEC, including the adaptations to the GHS criteria

Volume IIIb pdf - 3 MB [3 MB] - Volume IIIb msw8 - 8 MB [8 MB]

Entries of Annex I to Council Directive 67/548/EEC

Impact Assessment

The impact assessment made use of the impact assessment reports prepared by RPA and London Economics as well as the responses to the Internet Consultation. The responses from companies on costs led to further efforts to quantify significant cost items. Although the change from the existing to the future classification and labelling system will have significant one-off costs, these costs are expected to be offset by trade benefits in the longer term.

Note on the optimal length of the transitional period [38 KB]

Commission Impact Assessment [178 KB]
Commission Impact Assessment - Executive Summary [16 KB]

Risk & Policy Analysts / London Economics:

Criteria on Human Health and the Environment

Comparison between the current EU and the GHS Criteria (Dec 2007) pdf - 74 KB [74 KB]

Downstream legislation

Classification of substances and preparations (GHS: "mixtures") triggers other obligations in EU legislation, referred to as downstream legislation.

The Commission services have assessed the potential effects of the implementation of the GHS criteria on downstream legislation.

Analysis of the Potential Effects of the Proposed GHS Regulation on Its EU Downstream Legislation (DG Enterprise) and Addendum pdf - 1023 KB [1023 KB]

The analysis concludes that effects are either minimal or can be minimised by appropriate changes to particular downstream acts. The CLP Regulation itself includes such changes to REACH. For Council Directive 1996/82/EC on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances (Seveso II Directive), the implementation of GHS is expected to have a more substantial impact. Therefore, this Directive needs to be amended separately. Separate amendments implementing the CLP in other EU downstream acts were part of further Commission proposals. On 16 and 17 October 2007, the Commission adopted two proposals ( COM(2007)611 final pdf and COM(2007)613 final pdf ) implementing the GHS for seven pieces of EU downstream legislation.

Based on these proposals the European Parliament and the Council adopted Directive 2008/112/EC, OJ L 345 pdf and Regulation (EC) 1336/2008, OJ L 354 pdf on 16 December 2008.

Related Commission proposals

Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directives 76/768/EEC, 88/378/EEC, 1999/13/EC and Directives 2000/53/EC, 2002/96/EC and 2004/42/EC in order to adapt them to Regulation (EC) … on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures ( COM(2007)611 final of 16 October 2007 pdf )

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 648/2004 in order to adapt it to Regulation (EC) … on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures ( COM(2007)613 final of 17 October 2007 pdf )