As a result of trilogue between European Comission, European Parliament and Council, the draft text of the EU CLP (1272/2008/EC) Regulation was agreed back in December 2023. The draft can be found here: CLP Draft text. It was expected that the final text would be published in the Official Journal around June or July, however the EU Parliament elections delayed the legislative process apparently. Anyway, we should probably see it published anytime now.  

The update of the CLP Regulation aims to address the market changes posed by the progressing globalization and the growth of the e-commerce, as well as to adapt the requirements in such a way as to solve the problems identified during the review and evaluation of the Regulation. In the course of updating the1272/2008/EC Regulation, the most difficult issues identified during industry inspections will also be addressed, primarily regarding the labeling of chemical products, as well as the compliance of information available on e-commerce platforms for substances and mixtures. The latter concerns primarily the correctness of the information presented on the labels of chemical products on such sales platforms.  

Analysis of the revised requirements, resulting from the updated CLP Regulation text allows us to conclude that the scope of changes will definitely affect the approach to labeling of chemical products, the methods of label compilation and online advertising & sales. In principle, the upcoming update should have no significant impact on the previously developed Safety Data Sheets, which is certainly positive news. However, there are elements in the proposed text of Regulation 1272/2008/EC that may influence the shape of the currently existing SDS, such as the introduction of the MOCS (More than One Constituent Substance) concept and the extension of the list of classifications affecting the product identifier, more details on these two aspects can be found later in the text. 

Most legislative attention has focused on the chemical product labels, their readability and clarity, and on the online advertising and sales of products, primarily in terms of information available to the user before they make a decision to purchase the product. This second aspect seems especially important because the CLP label, which serves as a main source of information for the user about the potential risks resulting from the use of the chemical product, is not directly available when the customer purchases the goods online. For this reason, during the legislative process, great emphasis was put on clarifying the requirements for the distance sales of chemical products and provisions that were introduced, will require information on hazards and safety measures (H-statements, P-statements, pictograms) to be reflected on the sales platform in the same way as they are conveyed on the product packaging. 

These are, however, not the only changes coming, and a summary of the highlights of the upcoming CLP update can be found below:  

• Updating the requirements related to the technical aspects of CLP label compilation, primarily with an emphasis on setting minimum font sizes (depending on the size of the packaging), font types and line spacing. Additionally, CLP label elements will need to be printed in black text on a white background. These provisions are intended to increase the readability of labels.  

• An increase in the classification of a product that will affect the elements of the CLP labeling will be subject to a 6-month grace period before the changes will be expected to appear on the product label. Similarly, for changes that reduce the product classification, a period of 18 months will be allowed before the labels will have to reflect those changes. Previously in the Regulation, regardless of the type of changes, the Regulation stated that CLP labels should be updated “without an undue delay”. 

• The use of fold-out labels will be allowed for all sizes of chemical product packaging and the technical aspects for this type of labelling are to be described directly in the legislative text. The change here concerns primarily the extension of the scope of use of fold-out labels beyond products in very small packages, as well as the formalization of their use (previously, technical aspects were described only in the Guidance, and not in the text of the 1272/2008/EC Regulation).  

• Additional labelling and marking exemption provisions for products which inner packaging size does not exceed 10 ml. Previously, this exemption only applied to the products in the R&D phase. 

• Introduction of the concept of electronic labelling. At the moment, this option will be limited only to EUH and unknown toxicity phrases. Other labeling elements will still need to appear on the physical product label, and electronic labeling can be used in addition to, not instead of, them. Additionally, there will be a number of technical requirements for the electronic labeling of chemical products, so at the moment its usefulness should be considered as a curiosity and a move in the right direction, without a clear positive business impact or use case. 

• Online sales of chemical products and the introduction of the obligation to place labeling elements compliant with the CLP label on the website where the product can be purchased. Likewise, any type of product advertising will need to reflect all the labeling elements.  

• Extension of the list of classifications that affect the product identifier to include substances driving the classification as vPVB, PBT, PMT, vPvM and ED.   

• The concept of substances containing more than one constituent (MOCS), clarification of the principles of classification of these substances, the method of data selection and their prevalence for both MOCS and mixtures. Particular attention was paid to CMR classifications. Exemption for MOCS obtained from plants and their parts that are not subsequently chemically modified. 

The Regulation will certainly include appropriate transition periods, but due to the scope of impact on the chemical industry, especially in terms of marking and labels, it is worth keeping your finger on the pulse and, in consultation with specialists, plan a strategy for adapting to the upcoming changes in the CLP Regulation.