The EU inventory now contains 5.3 million classifications covering 120,000 substances.

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) reported on Sept. 27, 2012, that it has updated the European Union (EU) public chemical classification and labeling inventory to contain all non-classified information on hazardous substances available on the EU market. The inventory now contains 5.3 million classifications covering 120,000 substances. ECHA was required to prepare the inventory under the EU regulation on the classification, labeling and packaging of chemicals (CLP Regulation No. 1272/2008), which implements in the EU the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System for Classification and Labelling of Chemicals. Companies were required to reclassify their substances and submit notifications to ECHA by Jan. 4, 2011. The inventory seeks to provide an overview of the chemicals market in the EU and to provide a starting point for the standardization of substance classifications. ECHA stated that it will publish during 2013 a web-based discussion platform that companies can use to work on the harmonization of classifications. ECHA published a first version of the inventory in February. More information is available by clicking on this link.