The new regulation 1272/08/EU (called CLP)

The new regulation 1272/2008/EU, CLP regulation, had been published on the Official Journal of European Union (L353) on December 31, 2008. This new regulation will repeal the old DSD (Dangerous Substance Directive = EEC 67/548) and the old DPD (Dangerous Substance Directive = EC/1999/45).
Scope of the new regulation is the adoption of the GHS (Globally Harmonized System) in Europe in order to harmonize also in Europe all the requirements related to the classification and labeling of substances and mixtures. The GHS has in fact the final target to harmonized worldwide such rules to facilitate the free market of chemicals within the planet. The CLP regulation has been based on the second revision of the GHS and is therefore expected that a new update will come soon after the third revision of the GHS system which will be released probably by 2010.
The CLP regulation entered in force 20 days after the publication (hence on January 20, 2009).
It has to be considered as a complementary regulation to the REACH one because it regards the classification, labeling and packaging requirement while the REACH regulation is more focused on the registration of chemical substances starting from those marketed or imported at a level higher than 1 tonne per year (tpa) including a deep evaluation of the Risk Assessment (occupational, consumer and environment) for each registered use.
The CLP regulation gives us the rules on how to identify the hazards of chemical substances and chemical mixtures on the basis of their intrinsic properties, how to classify them within the three main classes (physical chemical properties, health and environment) and, last but not least, how to communicate the hazards to users using the two fundamental tools: the label and the Safety Data Sheet.
The regulation introduces some important changes if compared with the old approach. It is therefore important to study in details the new classes, rules, principles in order to comply correctly with the classification requested and allow the users to adopt all the most suitable and correct Risk Management Measures to avoid any risk for possible exposed humans and/or environment compartments.
The CLP regulation will be applicable differently for substance and chemical mixture; both will have a transitional period to enter completely in practice.
Substance needs to be re-classified by December 1st, 2010; mixtures by May 30, 2015.
All actors already described in the REACH regulation such as manufacturers, importers, downstream users, distributors, formulators are, at different levels, involved in the CLP application along with different duties and responsibilities.