. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/CHE/35 
22 January 2004  
 
(04-0214) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  English 
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   SWITZERLAND  
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):         
2. Agency responsible:   Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (SFOPH)  
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and web-site 
addresses, if available) of  agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be  indicated if different from above:    
State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (seco) - WHNT Effingerstrasse 1 
CH-3003 Bern Tel:  ++41 31 324 07 60 Fax:  ++41 31 324 09 59 
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [  X ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:         
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in  addition, where applicable):   Chemical substances and 
preparations 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Ordinance relating to 
Protection against Dangerous Substances a nd Preparations, approximately 75 pages 
(German, French and Italian). 
6. Description of content:   The ordinance provides the basic legislation concerning the 
handling and use of chemical substances, preparations and in certain fields, articles.  It 
regulates the producer’s duty of self-supervisi on, the obligation to notify new substances 
and to inform the authorities about the placing on the market of preparations and in certain cases their full composition.  It foresees a central notification and authorization body.  The 
most important regulations deal with: 
• Prerequisites for placing substances and preparations on the market, including  
assessment, classification, packaging, labelling and safety data sheet 
• Obligations once these have been placed on the market 
• Handling and use of substances and preparations 
 
Food, medicines, animal feed and cosmetics ar e excluded from the scope of the ordinance. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
The ordinance is intended to bring about harm onization with EU legislation on chemicals  
while maintaining or improving the level of  protection for the general population, 
employees and the environment against the harmful effects that may be caused by chemicals.  Existing provisions  will be amended to take acc ount of technical developments 
and trade barriers affecting the most important trade partners will be reduced.  G/TBT/N/CHE/35 
Page 2  
 
8. Relevant documents:   Law of 7 October 1983 (as of 10 June 1997) relating to the 
Protection of the Environment (RS 814.01) 
http://www.bk.admin.ch/ch/f/rs/c814_01.html
  
 Law of 15 December 2000 concerning Protec tion against Dangerous Substances and 
Preparations (Chemicals Law) (FF 1999-5887) 
http://www.admin.ch/ch/f/ff/2000/5733.pdf
  
9. Proposed date of adoption:  To be determined  
Proposed date of entry into force:  1 January 2005 
10. Final date for comments:   60 days from the day of notification 
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [    ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:   
 
http://www.bag.admin.ch/parchem/vernehm /d/Chemikalien_Vo_final%20draft_d__VL.pdf   
 
http://www.bag.admin.ch/parchem/vernehm /f/Chemikalien_Vo_final%20draft_f__VL.pdf   
 http://www.bag.admin.ch/parchem/vernehm /i/Chemikalien_Vo_final%20draft_i__VL.pdf