Selling and advertising products with a Safety Data Sheet

Every product which is classified for CLP requires a Safety Data Sheet, unless it is being sold to consumers.  Even where consumers are being supplied, if a professional user were to buy the product, they may still ask for a Safety Data Sheet (SDS) if they need one e.g. for their own risk assessments.

However, there are a category of products which are not classified for CLP, but which hold a Workplace Exposure Limit, and these may need an SDS.  There are other reasons why an SDS may be required.

Products which are not classified under CLP, and which do not require an SDS, may also benefit from an SDS being supplied.  For example, Amazon will not allow the online sale of what it considers to be “chemicals”, without an SDS being supplied to the potential purchaser.

For face to face sales, an SDS should be provided at the time of sale.

For distance selling sales, an SDS should be provided before the time of sale.  At the time of writing, interpretations vary as to whether the SDS must be shown to the prospective purchaser before the sale is concluded, or whether only a link to the SDS needs to be provided before the sale is concluded.  You also need to supply an SDS on or before the goods are received, and this can be done electronically (e.g. via email), or you can include a hard copy SDS with the product.

For sales under contract to industrial and professional users, the usual rules of supplying an SDS on or before the time of sale apply.