Do's and Don'ts of Labeling: The Changing World of Labeling and How it Will Affect Your Business
Authors: Rudolph Mary 
Published: May 2011

This paper will look at the impacts of labeling across multiple areas of an organization and the supply chain. Furthermore, we will look at how new legislation, such as REACH and GHS, is changing labeling from an IT, regulatory, and strategic standpoint.

Many jurisdictions have adopted a common framework for comprehensive chemical management regulation because of the potentially hazardous nature of some products. These mandates have been implemented to improve the margin of safety for human health and the environment. Increasingly global in scope, these regulations are replacing a global patchwork of inconsistent practices, ensuring clear communication of potential hazards and recommended handling procedures, regardless of geography and borders.

REACH and GHS are regulations that have a direct impact on registration of chemicals, end-use notification, standard pictograms and hazard communication, and specific formatting guidelines. Because of its complexity, label production is too difficult for companies that try to manage the process manually. An automated solution is a must. Partnering with a labeling solutions provider can eliminate the pain associated with designing and maintaining homegrown labeling solutions, and drastically reduce the probability of non-compliance incidents, thereby leveraging your existing ERP, PLM and other technology assets, and automating your label production.

In addition, this paper looks at the value and challenge of labeling across the organization. It provides ‘how-to’ guidance for ensuring compliance, and to achieve critical business growth objectives while reducing operational risks that can disrupt supply chains, customer relationships and business reputation. Jurisdictions worldwide are continuing the trend of adopting chemical regulations because of their stated goal to protect human health and the environment. We are seeing this trend embodied today in REACH1 (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical Substances) and the Globally Harmonized System of Classification2 (GHS),‘The Purple Wave.’ REACH has effectively restructured the registration of chemicals in Europe, and we are seeing a similar movement in other countries as well. Meanwhile, the European Union, Japan, Brazil, and New Zealand have formed the leading edge of jurisdictions that have implemented GHS, with several more countries looking to join the trend. Each change in legislation results in increased costs to the chemical industry, including direct costs of product registration or indirect costs related to providing the proper Safety Data Sheets (SDS) and labels for product distribution in a particular country.

Labels are often printed in the language spoken at a facility, with no official translations of the regulation provided in other languages. This can lead to confusion in the interpretation of the meaning or intent of a regulation. Resolving the matter can be time-consuming, because of added back and forth communication that is required with government regulators, which takes the focus away from clarifying critical business questions.