JAPAN
GHS
Preparation for GHS introduction by government
Effort had been made by government to introduce GHS. In 2004 the government established a taskforce team to cope with GHS, and started a joint project to classify hazardous chemical substances. Estimated cost of 1 million dollar for this project was financed by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Initially the government prepared classification manual and technical guideline for them to obtain consistent results between taskforce team members. They began classification work of chemical substances subject to MSDS requirement under Industrial Safety and Health Law (ISHL), Pollutant Release and Transfer Register PRTR) law and Poisonous and Deleterious Substance Control Law (PDSCL). They completed the classification of about 1500 chemical substances and the results were posted on their website. This project was closed in February 2007. The classification results may be used as reference by industry, but there is no obligation for us to follow it.
GHS introduction status on related laws
Laws except ISHL have not introduced GHS. Here is the status:
1) MSDS
a) ISHL: Amended law was implemented on December 1, 2006
b) PDSCL: Encouraging industry to adopt GHS
c) PRTR: Recommending GHS
2) Label
a) ISHL: Amended law was implemented on December 1, 2006
b) Fire Service Law, High Pressure Gas Control Law, Household Products Quality Labelling Law: No changes
Support for Industry
Government has been continuing to support industry in various aspects: established an information infrastructure as a GHS communication platform named GHS-NET where industry can share GHS related information, resumed classification work; now 1655 substances were posted on their website, created GHS classification guidelines for industry, etc.
In addition, JISZ7252 for GHS classification was completed on October 2009. According to this completion, Japanese government finished to prepare Japanese standards for GHS: GHS classification, MSDS preparation (JISZ7250), and label preparation (JISZ7251).
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