Asian Countries Place High Priority On Harmonization of Classification, Labeling

摘要

Better alignment with the United Nations' Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) is a top priority for national chemical management in many Asian countries, speakers said Sept. 13 at the ChemCon Asia 2013 conference in Seoul. Hitoshi Nanimoto, a chemical product policy adviser at Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, said, "Japan has been taking regulatory action in recognition of the need for national standards and supporting measures for industry to roll out GHS." "The same laws obligating safety data sheets are used to implement GHS in Japan," he said, referring to the Chemical Management Control Law and the Industrial Safety and Health Law, which are under the jurisdiction of the economy ministry and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, respectively. Successive amendments to these laws have brought incremental improvements to Japan's GHS regime, Nanimoto said.