HSE Launches Public Consultation on Copper Substances

On 15 April 2024, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched a call for comments and relevant information on a number of copper substances. The reason for the consultation is that the Great Britain Mandatory Classification and Labelling (GB MCL) process includes consideration of information gathered from public consultations conducted by the HSE or international bodies such as the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). Comments can be submitted to the online survey here until 16 June 2024.

Substances covered 

The copper substances that are the focus of this MCL consultation (see table below) all have entries on the GB MCL list and are all classified for acute toxicity. However, they have not been assigned Acute Toxicity Estimate (ATE) values. The GB MCL proposal was developed using information submitted as part of the EU harmonised classification and labelling process. References can be found here in section 11 of the MCL report.

Stakeholder involvement

The HSE encourages anyone with relevant information such as scientific or technical information relating to the proposed classification, as well as positive and negative information about the potential impacts of the classification, to participate in the consultation. For more information on how to submit information to the public consultation, please visit the GB MCL web pages on the HSE website.

Under the GB Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) Regulation, the HSE will consider all public consultation submissions before publishing Agency Technical Reports and Agency Opinions on the substances, so any information provided will be important in any final GB MCL decision.