Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the 'Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive amending Council Directive 67/548/EEC as regards the labelling of certain dangerous substances in Austria and Sweden'
Date: 1998-12-02
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: Austria, ESC opinion, Sweden, dangerous substance, labelling, marketing standard

15.2.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 40/43

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a European Parliament
and Council Directive amending Council Directive 67/548/EEC as regards the labelling of
certain dangerous substances in Austria and Sweden’

(1999/C 40/13)

On 23 November 1998 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee,
in accordance with Article 100 A of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the
above-mentioned proposal.

At its 359th plenary session (meeting of 2 December 1998), the Economic and Social Committee
appointed Mr Stöllnberger as Rapporteur-general and adopted the following opinion by
94 votes with 2 abstentions.

1.

Introduction

as

67/548/EEC (1),

Council Directive

last
1.1.
amended by Commission Directive 98/73/EC (2), was
introduced as a measure to eliminate barriers to the
trade with dangerous (chemical) substances and to
protect human health,
in particular the health of
workers. As a result, Member States started to use
common rules to classify, package and label dangerous
substances when marketed. Since 1981, they also have a
common notification system for ‘new’ substances placed
on the market. These common requirements aim to
achieve the high level of protection of human health and
the environment in the territory of the Community as
required by the Treaty.

Annex I to Directive 67/548/EEC contains a list
1.2.
of dangerous substances for which classification and
labelling have been agreed at Community level. The
other annexes lay down the necessary details on the
system of classification, packaging and the labelling,
and Article 23 contains the specific labelling provisions.
The label on the packaging of a dangerous substance
must indicate clearly and indelibly inter alia a danger
symbol indicating the danger from the substance; stan-
dard phrases indicating the special risks attributed to
the substance (R-phrases); and standard phrases relating
to the safe use of the substance (S-phrases).

In the light of existing measures in the new
1.3.
Member States, the EU Accession Treaty granted inter
alia exemptions from these labelling provisions to
Austria (it may require additional danger symbols, and
S-phrases not included in the Annexes of the Directive)
and to Sweden (it may require additional R-phrases not
listed in the Annexes to the Directive) in order to take
account of the level of their standards for the protection
of human health and the environment, and provided for
the revision of these provisions ‘in accordance with EC
procedures’ before 31 December 1998.

1.4.
The large majority of Accession Treaty exemp-
tions with regard to Directive 67/548/EEC have been
reviewed to the satisfaction of all Member States
during the four year review period (1 January 1995 —
31 December 1998), and will lead to important changes
in the existing Community legislation. However, it was
not possible to complete the review of certain labelling
issues concerning Austria and Sweden in the time
allotted.

1.5.

These outstanding labelling issues are as follows:

1.5.1. T h e A u s t r i a n

a d d i t i o n a l

p i c t o -

g r a m f o r s a f e d i s p o s a l

The need for a ‘crossed-out dustbin’ pictogram concern-
ing waste disposal of certain dangerous substances and
their packaging remains under consideration. However,
similar labelling requirements are likely to be included
in a future Commission proposal for a Directive on
‘dangerous household waste’, although it is very unlikely
that such a proposal will be adopted before the end of
1998.

1.5.2. T h e A u s t r i a n a d d i t i o n a l S - p h r a s e

regarding

Information Centre’

The phrase ‘Antidote exists, medical staff contact
Poisons
counter-
measures in the case of accident, has (so far) not found
the support of a majority of national experts (3), mainly
because the organisation of poison information centres
in the Member States is very different. However, Council
Resolution 90/C329/03 (4) on ‘improving the prevention
and treatment of acute human poisoning’ calls for a
Community system of information and collaboration
concerning the availability of antidotes.

(1) OJ L 196, 16.8.1967, p. 1.
(2) The 24rd Adaptation to Technical Progress (ATP) of the

directive, OJ L 305, 16.11.1998.

(3) The Commission Working Group ‘Classification and
Labelling of Dangerous Substances – Health Effects’ which
includes experts from the Member States, Norway, industry
and the European Trade Unions.

(4) OJ C 329, 31.12.1990; ESC Opinion OJ C 124, 21.5.1990.

C 40/44

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

15.2.1999

1.5.3. T h e S w e d i s h a d d i t i o n a l R - p h r a s e

R - 3 2 2

The phrase ‘May be harmful if swallowed’ informs
about ‘moderately harmful’ acute oral effects. For such
effects ongoing OECD discussions on classification and
labelling of dangerous substances will soon provide
an internationally harmonised scheme which, once
adopted, may lead to a revision of Directive 67/548/EEC.

1.5.4. T h e S w e d i s h a d d i t i o n a l R - p h r a s e

R - 3 4 0

This is applied to certain carcinogenic substances, which
in the Community are covered by the R-phrase R-40.
Sweden suggested to change the wording of R-40. This
requires an in-depth review because categories of danger
other than ‘carcinogenic’ are concerned, which experts
have agreed to carry out as an immediate priority.

2. The Commission proposal

2.1.
This proposal for a Directive, which is based on
Article 100a of the Treaty, aims to amend Direc-
tive 67/548/EEC in order to provide a supplementary
two years time period for the completion of the review
on outstanding labelling issues regarding dangerous
substances in Austria and Sweden. In addition the
proposal ensures coherence of marketing conditions
between dangerous substances and preparations, since
the Council has recently agreed to include certain
unresolved Accession Treaty exemptions for Austria
and Sweden in the Common Position on the current
proposal for a Directive on ‘the classification, packaging
and labelling of dangerous preparations’(1) for a limited
period of two years from 1.1.1999 to 31.12.2000.

The

2.2.
67/548/EEC includes:

proposed

amendment

of Directive

— the addition of paragraph 5 to Article 23, allowing
Austria to request the labelling elements described
above;

(1) Proposals: OJ C 283, 26.9.1996; C 337, 7.11.97 — ESC

Opinion: OJ C 158, 26.5.1997.

Brussels, 2 December 1998.

— the addition of paragraph 6 to Article 23, allowing
Sweden to request the use of the additional R-phrases
described above.

2.2.1.
1999 to 31 December 2000.

These exemptions are limited from 1 January

3. Comments

The Economic and Social Committee endorses
3.1.
the Commission proposal
to amend Article 23 of
Directive 67/548/EEC so that Austria and Sweden can
labelling
continue to require the use of additional
elements for dangerous substances from 1 January 1999
to 31 December 2000, bearing in mind the level of their
standards for the protection of human health and the
environment.

3.2.
In this context, the Committee would like to
point to the new future public health requirements of
the (Amsterdam) Treaty, where Article 152 states that
‘A high level of human health protection shall be ensured
in the definition and implementation of all Community
policies and activities’, and this includes rules related to
internal market harmonisation.

The Committee urges the Commission to pursue
3.3.
the further work which is planned regarding the revision
of existing categories of danger and the taking up of
internationally harmonised standards for the classifi-
cation of dangerous substances.

Furthermore, the Committee would like in par-

3.4.
ticular to emphasise the following:

3.4.1.
This work should be concluded in time for a
revision of the directive on the classification, packaging
and labelling of dangerous substances to be drawn up
by 31 December 2000.

3.4.2.
Relevant conclusions should also be drawn
within the same time-frame on all other ‘associated
initiatives’, as required in order to revise this and/or
other relevant Community legislation in a properly
informed manner. Such ‘associated initiatives’ would
include those on ‘dangerous household waste’ and those
concerning the availability of antidotes as considered in
Council Resolution 90/C329/03.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Beatrice RANGONI MACHIAVELLI