Introductory Guidance on the CLP Regulation - ECHA - Europa

Basic guidance to Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 on Classification, Labelling and Packaging of substances and mixtures
Hazardous versus Dangerous
ALL substances and mixtures meeting the criteria of one or more of the hazard
classes in CLP are considered hazardous. However, many other pieces of
Community legislation which make reference to substance or mixture classifications,
for example the Chemical Agents Directive 98/24/EC, refer to substances or mixtures
classified as dangerous, as defined in DSD. Please find more information on this in
section 23 of this guidance document.
From 1 December 2010, the term ‘dangerous’ under REACH will be
translated explicitly into the corresponding CLP classifications, except for
obligations related to Safety Data Sheets which apply to substances
meeting the criteria for classification as hazardous. From 1 June 2015, SDS
will finally also relate to mixtures classified as hazardous.
Classification of mixtures
Like the DPD, the classification of mixtures under CLP is for the same hazards as for
substances. As with substances, available data on the mixture as a whole should
primarily be used to determine the classification. If this cannot be done, further
approaches to mixture classification may be applied which may partly differ from those
under DPD – in contrast to DPD, you may now apply the so-called “bridging principles”
for some health and environmental hazards, using data on similar tested mixtures and
information on individual hazardous ingredient substances. In case of calculations,
the formulae often differ from those used under DPD. As to the application of expert
judgement and weight of evidence determination, these principles are now more
explicit in the legal text when compared to DSD and DPD (CLP Article 9(3) and 9(4)).
Labelling
CLP replaces the DSD risk phrases, safety phrases and symbols with the mostly
equivalent UN GHS hazard statements, precautionary statements and pictograms. In
general, the phrases are very similar, although they may use slightly different wording.
Also, CLP introduces the two UN GHS signal words ‘Danger’ and ‘Warning’ to indicate
the severity of a hazard as a new feature in EU legislation ( see section 14 of this
guidance document). However, CLP does not have labelling elements that
correspond to the DSD indications of danger.
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