Important Updates to the Great Britain Mandatory Classification and Labelling List

On 11 January 2024, the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) announced that it is proposing to update the status of the list entries for 90 substances on the Great Britain Mandatory Classification and Labelling (GB MCL) list. These substances were included in the GB MCL list when the UK left the European Union.

Background on the 90 substances

The EU Harmonised Classification and Labelling (EU CLH) entries from the 14^th and 15^th Adaptation to Technical Progress (ATP) for the 90 substances were adopted in 2017 and 2018. They were subsequently included in the GB MCL list but were not retained in GB law following the UK's exit from the EU and the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020. At the time the HSE believed that the entries would be retained in full in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), but this was not the case. The HSE has now decided to use the Article 37 and Article 37A procedures as a corrective measure to address this issue.

Proposed changes

The HSE has now published a consolidated Agency Opinion and is formally proposing mandatory classification and labelling for the 90 substances based on the scientific and technical assessment of the scientific data, in accordance with Article 37 and Article 37A of the GB Classification, Labelling and Packaging (GB CLP) Regulations. This initiative is supported by a consolidated Technical Report and Agency Opinion, both of which are now publicly available in the HSE GB CLP publication table.

The 90 substances are divided into 3 groups:

• For the 62 substances listed in Table 1 of the consolidated Agency Opinion, the Agency Opinion does not differ from the opinion of the EU Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC). Therefore no further consideration under Article 37A is required.

• For the 26 substances listed in Table 2, the Agency Opinion differs from the consolidated Agency Technical Report. However, the HSE has not received any new scientific or technical information that would change the proposed GB MCLs in Table 2 and therefore no further assessment under Article 37A is required for these substances.

• For the last two substances (titanium dioxide and granulated copper) listed in Table 3, the HSE is aware of information that may change the classification for these two substances. Therefore, these substances will be further assessed under the Article 37A procedure, and no GB MCL is proposed for these substances at this time.

Next steps

The HSE will make a recommendation to Ministers for a Ministerial Decision, with consent of the devolved Governments (Scotland and Wales), to legally enforce the proposed GB MCLs for these 90 substances. The expected compliance dates will be in line with their publication in the HSE’s GB CLP publication table, which is set for April 2024.

In the meantime, duty holders are reminded that no immediate action is required. The HSE had previously advised compliance with the harmonised classification and labelling of these substances as set out in the guidelines in the 14^th and 15^th ATPs.

The classification and labelling of most substances will not change following this update. However, specific substances such as titanium dioxide in powder form and granulated copper will require further assessment under the Article 37A procedure.