What you need to know about the South Korean MSDS submission process and CBI protection

From April to September 2022, the South Korean Ministry of Employment and Labor (MoEL) conducted self-check and inspections of material safety data sheets (MSDSs) in workplaces of enterprises manufacturing or importing chemicals. According to the results issued on November 3, 2022, half of the enterprises were found to have MSDS violations. The check mainly focused on the implementation status of the MSDS system and workers’ safety measures in enterprises that manufacture and import chemicals in large quantities.

On January 15, 2019, South Korea released the amendments to the Occupational, Safety and Health Act (known as OSHA). The amended OSHA came into force on January 16, 2020. In accordance with the amended OSHA, chemical substances or mixtures classified as hazards under the Korean GHS are required to submit MSDS to the Korean Ministry of Employment and Labor (MoEL) prior to manufacture/import.

On September 22, 2022, the Science and Technology Division under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released a notice on collecting public comments on revising 7 mandatory national standards including the General Rules for Preparation of Precautionary Label for Chemicals (GB 15258-2009). Opinions may be delivered to KJBZ@miit.gov.cn

The Toxic and Chemical Substances Bureau, Environmental Protection Administration, Executive Yuan, (Taiwan, China) released the amendments to articles of the Regulation for the Labeling and Materials Safety Data Sheets for Toxic and Concerned Chemical Substances on July 21, 2022.

The Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) of Malaysia is collecting public comments on the revision to the Occupation Safety and Health Act, making it aligns with the eighth edition of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). On June 13, the proposed updates announced by the DOSH would apply to the Occupational Safety and Health (Classification, Labelling and Safety Data Sheet) Act 2013.

The Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) has adopted opinions and amendments to Annex VI to the CLP regulation, with 39 new entries added, 17 entries amended and 1 entry deleted. This amended Regulation shall enter into force on May 3, 2022, and will be implemented from November 23, 2023.

On 4 April 2022, Singapore has released the draft GHS Standards. The draft standard is open for public comments until 6 Jun. 2022. The preparation of Safety Data Sheets (SDS) can prevent users of chemicals from exposure to chemicals; and to guide the potential users in describing and determining the empirical data of the substance or mixture. Potential users need to pay attention to this standard that it is not applicable to the use of pharmaceutical substances or preparations by medical physicians and veterinarians in the management of the health of a person or an animal but to that in an industrial process. Besides, it will be mandatory for enterprises to classify and label their chemicals based on the new standard, and to update their SDS to ensure the SDS is compliant.

UK has officially left EU since 1 Jan. 2021. Following the UK's exit from the EU, the CLP Regulation has been retained in GB law, with some minor changes, to become the GB CLP Regulation. In this article, CIRS will give an introduction to the classification and labeling of chemicals in GB as well as the SDS requirements, and provide compliance suggestions to related enterprises.

The latest OSHA amendments were published in 2019 by the Ministry of Employment of Labor (MoEL). Under the requirements of the 2019 OSHA Amendments, chemical manufacturers and importers in South Korea are obligated to prepare safety data sheets complying with Korean GHS standards for chemicals meet GHS hazard criteria, and submit the safety data sheets to the MoEL before in time.