Malaysia's CLASS regulations are revised, and the eighth revised edition of the United Nations GHS is planned to be adopted

On June 13, 2022, the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) Malaysia issued a draft amendment to the Occupational Safety and Health (Classification, Labelling and Safety Data Sheets of Hazardous Chemicals) Regulations 2013 (CLASS Regulations)
.
The draft amendment is currently open for public comment, and the deadline for feedback is August 15, 2022
.
 

The Malaysian CLASS regulation was officially released and came into effect on October 11, 2013, to implement and implement the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) in the workplace
.
The CLASS regulations are formulated based on the third revision of the United Nations GHS and require manufacturers, importers and suppliers to classify, label, package, and prepare safety data sheets (SDS) for the hazardous chemicals involved
.

This draft amendment is mainly based on the eighth revised edition of the United Nations GHS
.

The revision points are summarized as follows:

1.
Exemption  

The draft clarifies that cosmetic and herbal ingredients, as well as pharmaceuticals, as defined in the Control of Medicines and Cosmetics Regulations 1984 (PU (A) 223/1984]) and its amendments, are exempt from CLASS regulations
.
In addition, food products are also exempted from the regulations
.

Pesticides that have been registered, labelled and packaged under the Pesticides Act 1974 and its amendments will be exempt from the packaging and labelling requirements of the CLASS Regulation
.
 

2.
Hazard classification

● Add two hazard categories: pressurized chemicals (categories 1~3) and desensitized explosives (categories 1~4)

● Update and adjust the hazard category of flammable gases

● Add aerosol hazard category 3

● Added skin corrosion/irritation hazard category 3

● Divide Serious Eye Damage/Eye Irritation Hazard Category 2 into Subcategories 2A and 2B

● Divide respiratory sensitizer/skin sensitizer hazard category 1 into subcategories 1A and 1B

3.
Label requirements
According to the draft, the current label size requirements will be changed to label area requirements, and the corresponding pictogram size requirements (see the table below) will be introduced
.

Current regulations require that containers of 125ml and below be labelled as the supplier deems reasonable
.
The draft plans to amend "125ml" to "250ml"
.
In this case, the label still needs to contain the following basic elements:

(a) product identification;

(b) Supplier identification;

(c) signal words;

(d) pictograms (if applicable);

(e) Refer to the prompt for information
.

For cases where labelling is not possible due to limitations of container properties (size or shape, etc.
), current regulations require that labels be attached to the packaging, and the draft adds that labels may also be labelled in a manner deemed reasonable by the supplier
.

In addition, if the hazard classification changes, the update period of the label will be extended from "within 3 months" to "within 6 months"
.

4.
Concentration threshold

The draft changes the inhalation hazard concentration threshold for mixture components from 10% to 1%
.
Concentration thresholds for other health or environmental hazards in Schedule V of the CLASS Regulation remain unchanged
.