China launches consultation to revise chemical safety label standards

On 14 September 2024, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced a consultation to revise the national standard on "Regulations on the Preparation of Chemical Safety Labels" to align with the ninth revised edition of the Globally Harmonized System for Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS 9). The Ministry released this announcement on the portal of the National Standards Administration and invited stakeholders to comment on it by 14 October 2024. 

After the official publication of the National Standard on the Provisions on the Preparation of Chemical Safety Labels, the National Technical Committee for Standardization of Hazardous Chemicals Management will work on its implementation. 

Insights of New Labelling Standard 

This new labelling standard will have the following revised information: 

• Alignment with the technical content of the ninth edition of the United Nations GHS, including hazard classification and precautionary statements. 

• Implementation of the "one enterprise, one product, one code" regulation to meet the needs of national safety supervision of hazardous chemicals. Additionally, the means of transmitting hazardous chemical hazard information needed to be strengthened, and the last mile of hazardous chemical hazard information transmission needed to be opened. 

Previous Update  

Previously China’s National Standards Administration revised the Provisions on the Preparation of Chemical Safety Labels in 2009. However, this 2009 version followed GHS 2 while the Ministry has now proposed to align with the provisions of GHS 9. 

Comment Period and Enforcement Date 

Stakeholders are invited to comment on this draft announcement till 14 October 2024. The Ministry has not yet officially announced the enforcement date of the same.