The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS), also known as “ Purple book ”) It is a normative document published by the United Nations in 2003 to guide countries to establish a uniform system of classification and labelling of chemicals, and is therefore often referred to as the United Nations GHS. The UN GHS is revised every two years, with the first revision in 2005 and the current version being the seventh revision in 2017. In 2002, the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development encouraged countries to implement GHS before 2008. In order to ensure consistency with the United Nations GHS, countries promulgated corresponding regulations, among which, the European Union issued CLP regulations in 2009, China officially implemented China's GHS in 2011, and the United States officially issued HCS standards in 2012.

Global GHS implementation

In addition to major countries and regions around the world such as the European Union, Japan, South Korea, China, and Brazil, which have already implemented GHS, the United States and Canada will also implement the GHS system uniformly. Taking the United States as an example, starting from June 1, 2015, all SDS and labels must comply with the standards set by the US OSHA, marking the implementation of GHS by major industrialized countries worldwide. It is worth mentioning that although GHS systems are implemented, each country and region has specific requirements, such as language, and some regulatory details may vary, requiring companies to customize for different countries and regions.

Implementation of GHS in China

At present, China has fully implemented GHS, the latest classification standard adopts the UN GHS fourth edition of the standard, fully adopted 28 categories, including 16 physical and chemical hazard classification, 10 health hazard classification and 2 environmental hazard classification. The corresponding documents are GB 30000.2-2013 to GB30000.29-2013, which was officially implemented on November 1, 2014.

Corporate responsibility and obligation

For enterprises, after the implementation of China GHS, the most important obligations are:

1) Registration and updating of GHS compliant hazardous chemicals

The Regulations on the Safety Management of Hazardous Chemicals clearly states that hazardous chemical production enterprises and import enterprises must carry out registration of hazardous chemicals. The registration of hazardous chemicals includes the following contents: classification and labeling information; Physical and chemical properties; Main use; Hazardous characteristics; Safety requirements for storage, use and transportation; Emergency measures to deal with dangerous situations.

2) Provide GHS compliant chemical safety technical specifications and chemical safety labels

The main obligations of the global GHS are: to provide SDS and labels in accordance with the local regulatory language and regulatory requirements

In addition to the European Union, Japan, South Korea, China, Brazil and other major countries and regions in the world have successively implemented GHS, including the United States, Canada will also implement the GHS system. In the United States, for example, from June 1, 2015, all SDS and labels must meet the standards set by the United States OSHA, marking the implementation of GHS in the world's major industrialized countries. It is worth mentioning that despite the implementation of the GHS system, each country and region has specific requirements, such as language, such as the details of some regulations will be different, requiring enterprises to address

SDS English full name Safety Data Sheet, that is, chemical safety technical specification, is a comprehensive document on chemical composition information, physical and chemical parameters, explosion performance, toxicity, environmental hazards, as well as safe use mode, storage conditions, leakage emergency treatment, transportation regulations and other information. It is also one of the chemical information transmission carriers under the requirements of national regulations around the world.

When do I need to provide SDS?

Enterprise products are listed in the list of hazardous chemicals, or products are classified as hazardous according to GHS standards, need to proactively provide SDS; Or, although the above conditions are not met, companies also need to pass SDS along their supply chain when the importer actively requests it, or when the industry is more stringent about the classification of substances.

When do I need to update my SDS?

In the following cases, the enterprise needs to update the SDS: with the deepening of the understanding of the substance, the enterprise obtains more physicochemical, toxicological and ecotoxicological information, resulting in the change of the classification label of the substance; Some countries and regions set a transition period for the implementation of regulations, before the transition period, enterprises need to update the substance hazard information description in SDS; After the registration of the EU REACH regulation, the SDS should be expanded into an Extended Safety Data Sheet (eSDS) to incorporate the exposure scenarios in the Chemical Safety Report (CSR) into the eSDS in the form of an annex.