Dr. Mike Moffatt, Ph.D. Director of Communications, Nexreg Compliance inc. Regulatory International Influences 2015 was the Year of Partial Harmonization If 2015 had a theme in the aerosol regulatory world, it was “partial harmonization.” Here is a summary of what you may have missed from last year and what it means for your company. February 2015 The following scenarios were put to The U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA): Our company has a chemical that is packaged in pre-printed bags, which are made to stock and then shipped around the world. In order to reduce relabeling and repackaging, we would like the chemical label to include the chemical hazard classifications for the U.S., EU and China in clearly marked separate boxes. and Is it acceptable to have other countries’ hazard classifications, in addition to the U.S. HCS 2012 classification, on a chemical product label? OSHA’s response was: The HCS 2012 does not prohibit a manufacturer or importer from adding supplemental information to a label, as long as it does not lead to unnecessarily wide variation or undermine the required label information. Section C.3.1 of Appendix C to Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) 2012 explains that supplementary information may only be added to a label if it provides further detail and does not contradict or cast doubt on the validity of the required information. Therefore, if the other countries have hazard classification information that contradicts or casts doubt on the HCS 2012 information, it is not permitted to be on the label. (Source: www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp. show_document?p_table=INTERPRETATIONS&p_id=29486) The “contradict or cast doubt” is particularly important here, as companies with a large portfolio of products shipped all over the world will find instances where the classification information in two jurisdictions will “contradict or cast doubt” with each other. The Globally Harmonized System is not nearly as harmonized as the name would suggest. That said, jointly compliant documents between the U.S. and its major trading partners is possible in the vast majority of cases, so it was helpful to see OSHA clarify this issue. May 2015 The Canada-U.S. States Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) released a number of Regulatory Partnership Statements. Of 26 Spray March 2016 particular interest to the aerosol industry are the statements involving health, transport and environmental regulation. Here are some key take-aways, with the emphasis added by author: Workplace Chemicals: “Health Canada and the U.S. Dept. of Labor will work together to coordinate the adoption of future updates of the Globally Harmonized System for Classification & Labeling of Workplace Chemicals (GHS) to facilitate common approaches and synchronized implementation in Canada and the U.S. This includes developing a mechanism to maintain alignment as the system is updated and modernized or new requirements or standards are put in place, exploring innovative methods to jointly engage stakeholders as well as enhanced collaboration on common interpretation and guidance materials.” Chemicals Management: “Environment Canada, Health Canada and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will collaborate in efforts to align chemical regulatory processes, specifically through the development of common approaches to address emerging risk issues and jointly considering how the use of novel data can inform the assessment of chemicals. Further, they will collaborate in efforts to develop common approaches for regulatory reporting requirements for new uses of chemical substances.” (Source: www.actionplan.gc.ca/en/content/may- 28th-release-rps-work-plans) Interestingly, there was no joint statement relating to regulatory cooperation relating to consumer chemicals, which would suggest that neither Canadian nor U.S. consumer labeling requirements will be transitioning over to GHS any time soon. November 2015 Canada, Mexico and the U.S. participated in the North America Consumer Product Safety Summit and released a joint statement on the regulation of consumer products within the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The joint statement highlighted the seven trilateral consumer product recalls that have occurred since 2013. The summit identified four areas for further cooperation over the next three years, two of which are of particular importance to aerosol product manufacturers and distributors: Hazard Reporting: “Improving industry’s practices regarding prompt notification of each relevant North American regulator, not just one of them, in cases when a company reports a hazard associated with a product distributed in two or more North American countries.”
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