India

GHS in India

Little Pro on 2018-04-02

India has not officially adopted GHS for chemicals yet. However, standard 16-section GHS compliant safety data sheets in English seem to be acceptable in India. The Draft Chemicals (Management and Safety) Rules published in 2020 also intends to implement GHS in India.

Current SDS Requirements in India

Current SDS requirements are given in the Schedule 9 of “The Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemicals Rule, 1989”. It contains 9 sections.

  • Section 1: Chemical Identity
  • Section 2: Physical and Chemical Data Section
  • Section 3: Fire and Explosion Hazard Data Section
  • Section 4: Reactivity Data Section
  • Section 5: Health Hazard Data Section
  • Section 6: Preventive Measures Section
  • Section 7: Emergency and First Aid Measure
  • Section 8: Additional Information/ References
  • Section 9: Manufacturer/ Supplier Data

To download the current rules for SDSs, please click here.

Note: The rules are very old. Current advice is that you do not need to re-format your SDSs if your SDSs are already GHS compliant and contain all above required info.

Latest Developments of GHS in India

In July 2011, the Ministry of Environment and Forests published a draft document called Hazardous Substances (Classification, Packaging and Labelling) Rules, 2011. It is fully assigned with UN GHS. Even though the rules have never officially been adopted, the new 16-section SDS requirements given in the draft document can help you prepare your SDSs for Indian market (see picture below).

SDS requirements in India

To download the draft document, please click here.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change formed the National Coordination Committee to prepare a National Action Plan for Chemicals for India. It is expected that a draft report be released in the first half of 2018. The report will include plans for the revision of existing chemicals legislation and GHS adoption.

Advanced GHS Topics

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 Tags: Topics - IndiaGHS Implementation