Overall sequence of hazard communication

There is an overall sequence to communicating the hazards of chemicals.

First, you need to classify the chemical (which under CLP means classifying for CLP-GHS hazards, and then classifying for EUH hazards); then produce labelling information; and finally write the Safety Data Sheet (SDS), although SDSs are not necessarily required for consumer products.

There may also be other communication obligations, depending on whether the product is imported or manufactured into the EU.

These obligations may include one or more of these:

• notification to the Classification and Labelling Inventory
• REACH registration of a substance
• registration of a use under REACH which is not supported by the other registrants
• notification of an article which deliberately releases a substance containing an SVHC to ECHA
• application for an Authorisation to use a substance
• notification of a mixture to one or more Poison Centres
• notification of import into, or export from the EU under the Prior Informed Consent rules

The main information in this knowledgebase is based on classification, labelling and writing SDSs, and some limited information may be provided on the other communication obligations, with the exception of REACH registration which is an entire discipline in its own right.