Document ID: OSHA-H022K-2006-0062-0652
Agency: osha
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2011-09-21T04:00Z

This is an informal public meeting to discuss the papers submitted for
consideration by the United Nations Subcommittee of Experts on the
Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals
(or “UNSCEGHS”) at its upcoming meeting on December 7-9, 2010 in
Geneva, Switzerland (the 20th session).  The UNSCEGHS is the UN body
responsible for maintaining and updating the GHS.  The US has been an
active member of the UNSCGHS for many years, and OSHA currently serves
as the head of the US delegation for this subcommittee.  OSHA published
a public notice of this meeting in the Federal Register on November 12,
2010 at 75 FR 69472.

	In preparation for this UN subcommittee meeting, the US Interagency GHS
Coordinating Group meets to discuss issues related to the GHS and to
develop a coordinated US position on the various papers on the
UNSCEGHS’s agenda.  The US interagency committee group consists of US
agencies that regulate in the area of chemical hazard communication and
includes the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Department of
Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency, and OSHA.

	The purpose of this public meeting is to gather the views of US
stakeholders on the various proposals pending before the UNSCEGHS.  This
will assist the US delegation in developing positions on the papers
submitted to the subcommittee.  In this meeting, we are not seeking to
achieve stakeholder consensus or decide on the US position.  Rather, we
wish to encourage the candid expression of individual stakeholder views
on these issues.

	As you may be aware, OSHA is currently considering its proposal to
modify its Hazard Communication Standard to conform with the GHS.  The
comment period in that proceeding has closed, and OSHA cannot accept new
comments addressed to that proposal.  Discussion in this forum is to be
limited to the papers currently before the UNSCEGHS.  However, OSHA will
be taking notes on the general topics of discussion.  These notes will
be included in the docket but will not be considered in the final rule.

In the back of the room you will find an agenda for this meeting as well
as a sign in sheet.  If you have not already done so, please pick up a
copy of the agenda and provide your contact information on the sign in
sheet.  You will notice that the agenda mimics the UN subcommittee
agenda for the upcoming meeting.  We will first discuss the working
papers and then if time permits we will discuss the informal papers
listed in the addendum to the agenda.  I will introduce the paper and
then ask if there are any comments starting with the participants in the
room and then moving onto the participants on the phone.  Now for a few
housekeeping items:

[Statement on procedures to be used.]