How to Find a METI Number for a Substance

Japan

How to Find a METI Number for a Substance

Little Pro on 2016-01-27

A METI number (usually in the format x-xxxx) is the registration number of a substance in the CSCL inventory of existing chemicals (ENCS). A substance that does not have a METI number (also known as Class reference number) will be regarded as a new substance in Japan and require notification under CSCL. METI numbers are also required for displaying composition info in the section 3 of SDSs in Japan.

It is not easy to search ENCS on CHRIP to get a METI number because ENCS listings are not based on CAS numbers. Each ENCS listing identified by one METI number may cover a number of similar substances. If you could not find a METI number on CHRIP or J-check, that does not mean your substance is new.

In this article, we will show you how to find a METI number for a substance with mineral oil as an example. If you are unfamiliar with the Japanese inventory of existing and new chemical substances (Japan ENCS) or CHRIP, please click here.

How to find a METI Number for White Mineral Oil?

White mineral oil (petroleum) (CAS 8042-47-5) is a very common chemical substance used in in a wide variety of industrial, professional and consumer applications like pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and food processing.

Assuming that you now need to check its inventory status in Japan and prepare SDSs, normally you will go to CHRIP or J-CHECK and search the ENCS by keyword (mineral oil) or by CAS number. In this case, this is what you will get.

METI number

You will get a list of search results. However, there is no METI number for the substance. If you further click a specific substance and go to “national regulations” tab, METI number cannot be found either. Does that mean while mineral oil is a new substance in Japan and requires notification under CSCL? The answer is of course not.

How could we find the METI number for white mineral oil? The answer is google. No one does better search than google. If you search “ METI number 8042-47-5” in google, you will not find the answer you need. However, if you search “官?公示整理番号 8042-47-5” in google, you can easily find out that the right METI number for white mineral oil is 9-1692. 官?公示整理番号 is the Japanese phrase for METI number.

There are plenty of free Japanese SDSs and public documents available on the internet covering thousands of substances. Most of substances in those SDSs have been assigned with METI numbers due to local regulatory requirements. While those assigned METI numbers in SDSs may not be 100% correct, they can be very helpful to assure you that your substances might not belong to new substances in Japan.

Challenge Yourself

Now you have been assigned with a task to check the inventory status for N,N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)oleamide (CAS 93-83-4) in Japan and find its METI number. Could you please tell us your answer? Is CHRIP quicker or google quicker?

If you like this article, please share it. We appreciate your support.

Having Questions?

We do not provide consultancy services. If you have questions or need any help, please contact our sponsor. You may also find an expert in CSP business directory below. If you are a consultant, you may get yourself listed in CSP business directory (free) or sponsor this page to leave your contact info on this page..