New labelling system aims at simplifying global trade

As well as complying with the new chemicals legislation REACH, the European chemicals industry will soon be facing a revision of 40-year-old labelling requirements.

The European Commission last month proposed adopting the United Nations’ globally harmonised system (GHS) for chemical substances and mixtures.

The GHS, if approved by governments and the European Parliament, will replace an EU law on classifying and labelling hazardous substances that dates from 1967 and is regarded as the first item of environmental legislation adopted by the EU.

At the 2002 Earth Summit in Johannesburg, an international agreement was reached that governments should adopt the GHS by 2008, to simplify global trade. No country has yet fully adopted the new labels, although countries including Canada and New Zealand are close to the final stages of implementation.

The existing EU legislation includes 15 red picture labels for dangerous chemicals, such as a skull and crossbones for toxic substances and a flame for flammable products.

The new GHS would replace these with similar pictures, in white with a red border. It would also impose slightly modified ‘hazard statements’, describing the nature of the chemical.

The GHS will fulfil the REACH requirements for a list of harmonised classifications and the creation of a classification and labelling inventory.

The Commission says GHS labelling will not affect the total number of classified chemicals in the EU, but that some individual substances and mixtures might have to be reclassified under the international rules.

The International Association for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance Products (AISE) has warned that consumers will be "confused" if common products have to be reclassified under GHS, especially if they fall into a more dangerous class. It is not yet known what products will be affected.

The Commission hopes to have the text agreed by the other institutions by the 2008 deadline envisaged at the Johannesburg meeting. But the new labels will not start appearing until 2010 for simple chemicals and 2015 for chemical mixtures.

Lavender confusion

• REACH, the EU’s chemical legislation, has been dogged by difficult questions since it was proposed by the European Commission in October 2003. Not least among these is the problem of what a chemical is. That we are all made of chemicals and that many of the most powerful poisons occur naturally, has not made regulation an easy task.

This difficulty has left the cosmetics industry unsure whether REACH obliges them to register the natural substances, such as lavender oil, used to produce common make-up, soap and perfume products.

"Natural substances like flower derivatives have no clear design properties," said Sebastian Marx of EU cosmetics industry representatives Colipa. "Properties vary from month to month and region to region, making a one-off registration impossible."

Marx said that his group was waiting for the Commission to explain which natural substances are covered by REACH and how they will be registered.

"Generally speaking, natural substances are exempt from REACH," said an official from the European Chemicals Bureau. "Nonetheless we are working to define the exemptions and produce clearer guidelines."

A decision could emerge as part of a REACH implementation project (RIP) by the end of the year.

Chemical fears

• Elizabeth Salter Green led the WWF DetoX campaign in the UK, lobbying for tougher regulation of the 80,000 new chemicals created since the 1950s (see Page 19). In 1999, she was one of the first people to have her blood tested for dangerous substances.

She now continues her campaigning as head of Chemtrust. "A lot now depends on how REACH is implemented," said Salter Green, "and on what happens during the REACH review in six years’ time."

Chemtrust says that REACH in its current form is "not precautionary enough". "Chemicals have to have pretty nasty effects to be kept off the market. We think the bar for [triggering] action should be lower."

In particular Salter Green hopes to see a strict list of endocrine disrupters - chemicals thought to interfere with the body’s natural hormones - drawn up in time for the review. Endocrine disrupters are currently exempt from REACH but the Commission has said it will reconsider the evidence for tougher bans during the review.

In the meantime Chemtrust hopes to prove the link between man-made chemicals and breast cancer, as well as poor male reproductive health. "We also want to include medical doctors more closely in the debate," said Salter Green. "The medical profession was sadly missing from the first stage of REACH."

As well as complying with the new chemicals legislation REACH, the European chemicals industry will soon be facing a revision of 40-year-old labelling requirements.