Philippines - GHS Status

Focal points:

Agencies responsible for GHS implementation:

Board of Investments (BOI): lead agency, responsible for coordinating, monitoring and providing guidance on the implementation of GHS.

- Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR): Environmental Management Bureau (EMB): responsible for the preparation of implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for industrial chemicals

• Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE): Bureau of Working Conditions (BWC): responsible for drafting the amendments to the Occupational Safety and Health Standards (OSHS) for GHS implementation in the workplace;
• Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC): responsible for the development of information materials and training modules on GHS for capability building of concerned government and private sector;
• Food and Drug Administration (FDA): responsible for the preparation of IRR for consumer chemicals;
• Bureau of Product Standards (BPS): responsible for the preparation of label standards for chemical substances and mixtures for consumer products.
• Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) through its several attached agencies: responsible for the implementation of GHS in the transport sector through the UN Model Regulations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods.
• Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP): in-charge of emergency response, responsible for drafting the amendments to the IRR of the Revised Fire Code of the

Philippines. Also responsible in the conduct of inspection and in prescribing safety measures on the storage, handling and/or use of explosives or of combustible, flammable, toxic and other hazardous materials.

• Bureau of Customs (BOC): responsible for monitoring the import and export of all kinds of chemical substances, mixtures and products, except in economic zones.
• Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA): responsible for monitoring inside the economic zones the importation and export of all kinds of chemical substances, mixtures and products.

Relevant legislation:

Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990 (Republic Act No.6969): for industrial chemicals;

Rule 1090 of the Occupational Safety and Health Standards (OSHS) entitled “Hazardous Materials”: for GHS implementation in the workplace;

Food and Drug Administration Act of 2009 (Republic Act No. 9711): for consumer chemicals;

Consumer Act of the Philippines (Republic Act No. 7394): for consumer products/chemicals;

Article V of the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority Rules and Regulations: for pesticides; Revised Fire Code of the Philippines of 2008 (Republic Act No. 9514): for emergency response.

GHS implementation status

Transport of dangerous goods

For international transport of dangerous goods, see “Implementation through international legal instruments, recommendations, codes and guidelines”

Workplace

Implemented

A GHS Joint Administrative Order for the adoption and implementation of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS JAO) was approved by the eight governmental agencies involved in GHS implementation on 25 May 2009 ("Adoption and Implementation of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals", Administrative order No.1, Series of 2009). The GHS JAO required implementing agencies to draft or revise their respective implementing rules and regulations (IRRs) or department orders, as the case may be, to

incorporate the provisions of GHS. It also specified the duties and responsibilities of the GHS implementing and coordinating government agencies in the adoption of the GHS classification criteria, labelling, and SDS requirements.