Legal Aspects of GHS Implementation Compiled by Goh Choo Ta

Observation It’s difficult to distinguish recommendations for government, industry and NGOs. However, most of the recommendations in this presentation emphasize on the potential roles of the government because it’s related to legal aspect of GHS implementation.

Situation GHS enforcement at the country level is needed but challenging. Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines: legislations and/or ministerial notifications and/or administrative orders. Japan & Singapore: legislations + standards

Recommendation (1) If the GHS is incorporated into existing legislations (either via ministerial notifications, administrative orders), the competent authority must ensure that GHS elements are adequately addressed. This can be done by having stakeholder consultation workshop and public comments. Appropriate building blocks should be identified.

Recommendation (2) Competent authority should organize awareness raising seminars for the decision makers. The content of the seminars should cover introduction on GHS, why we need GHS and benefit of GHS implementation including enhance protection on human health and the environment as well as to facilitate chemical trade across countries’ borders.

Recommendation (3) The GHS related legislations should cover all hazardous chemicals. ERMA New Zealand – thresholds. Japan – chemicals regulated by specific regulations.

Recommendation (4) Competent authority should establish mechanism to strengthen inter-agencies collaboration. This is to ensure that all relevant agencies within the country are aware of GHS and later to share their knowledge and experiences that contribute to the GHS implementation.

Recommendation (5) Competent authority should establish mechanism to incorporate latest version of the purple book into their respective regulations

Recommendation (6) Competent authority should identify appropriate transition period for GHS implementation. Countries are free to determine their respective transition periods based on their countries’ needs. However, decision on the transition periods should be conveyed to other countries or organizations.

Recommendation (7) The requirement of GHS training should be part of the GHS-related regulations. This is to ensure competency of the classifiers and users.

Recommendation (8) Competent authority should allow over labeling. For example, a chemical classified as Category 3 in Country X should accept the same chemical that imported from country Y that classified the chemical as Category 2 without reclassification.

Recommendation (9) Competent authority should establish inspection tools to ensure GHS compliance. Two possible approaches: – To have enforcers that carry out inspections at company premises; or – To inspect chemical labels and SDS that are available on the market.

Conclusion Enforcement is the driving force for GHS implementation. If the awareness of social responsibilities is lacking, then the ‘Rights to know’ should be complement by enforcement.