The European chemicals industry manufactures and uses a large number of different chemical products. 90% of all chemicals on the European market are preparations (mixtures of chemical substances) including industrial chemicals, petrochemicals, agricultural chemicals and many others.

The EU legislation aims at achieving a high level of protection of human health and the environment from chemicals, and requires manufacturers of chemicals:

• To identify the intrinsic hazards of the chemicals (flammability, toxicity . . .)
• To label these chemicals according to strict rules and to package them safely.

Legal texts (English):

• Corrigendum to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006(PDF 1.70 MB)
• Corrigendum to Directive 2006/121/EC (PDF 65 KB)
• Regulation (EC) N°1907/2006 (PDF 1.80 MB)- REACH
• Directive 67/548/EEC - Dangerous substances Directive
• Directive 1999/45/EC (PDF 265 KB) modified by Directive 2001/60/EC (PDF 156 KB) - Dangerous Preparations Directive
• Directive 2006/121/EC (PDF 111 KB) - Directive relating to Classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances
• Directive 91/155/EEC as amended by Directive 93/112/EEC (PDF 96 KB) and Directive 2001/58/EC (PDF 171 KB) – Safety Data Sheet requirements