CLP is the legislation that states all chemical products must be classified under new criteria and that packaging must be labelled with new pictograms that inform users of the hazards entailed in their use.
CLP stands for “Classification, Labelling and Packaging”, and it replaces previous directives.
The new legislation came into force on 1 June 2015, from this date manufactured chemical substances and mixtures must be labelled in accordance with the new legislation. Products manufactured and marketed before this date can legally remain on the market with the previous labelling until 1 June 2017. Thus, over the next two years, you will be able to find both types of labelling on the market.
The purpose of the CLP is to ensure clear communication of the hazards posed by the chemical substances to workers and consumers. For this, companies must communicate the potential risks to human health and the environment of these substances through the label pictograms and safety data sheets (SDS), and classify them according to the identified hazards. In this way, each consumer will have information on its effects before working with the product in question.
Another reason for this change is to unify the classification criteria throughout the United Nations, criteria which are used in other countries that do not belong to the European Union, in order to make chemical product labelling more global. It should be made clear that this change does not mean there is any change to the products themselves, just to their labelling and classification.
The chemical sector, to which we belong, is governed by very strict standards as regards safety and the environment. For this reason, BIT is constantly adapting to legislative changes that enable the quality of life of the users of our products to be improved.