Commercial Information Circulars

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e-mail address : enquiry@tid.gov.hk

Ref : EIC 230/6/14

11 July 2012

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 538/2012

European Union (EU)* : Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Substances and Mixtures

Further to Commercial Information Circular No. 196/2011 of 30 March 2011, the European Commission (the Commission) has adopted a Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures. Details are set out in Commission Regulation (EU) 618/2012 (the Regulation), which can be accessed through the following link:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:179:0003:0010:EN:PDF

DETAILS

2. Part 3 of Annex VI to Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 contains two lists of harmonised classification and labelling of hazardous substances. Based on the opinions of the Committee for Risk Assessment of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) as well as the comments received from the parties concerned, it is appropriate to amend Annex VI to Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 in order to harmonise the classification and labelling of certain substances. Details of the amendments are set out in Article 1 of the Regulation.

3. To allow operators to adapt to the labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures to the new classifications as well as to comply with the registration obligations, Article 1 of the Regulation shall apply from 1 December 2013. However, the harmonised classifications set out in Part 3 of Annex VI to Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, as amended by the Regulation, may be applied before 1 December 2013.

ENQUIRIES

4. For enquiries concerning the content of this circular, please contact the undersigned at telephone number 2398 5556.

Yours faithfully,

(Miss Anita WONG)
for Director-General of Trade and Industry

* The EU includes Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.