SME Panel Questionnaire – legislation governing the risk management of chemicals (excluding REACH), in particular CLP and related legislation

1.1  About you and your company

This section asks some basic questions about your company. Please answer this questionnaire from the perspective of your legal entity unless the activities relevant to chemicals legislation are centralised across your corporate group; if activities are centralised, then please respond for the group.

1.  In which country are you based?

Austria / Denmark / Hungary / Malta / Slovenia
Belgium / Estonia / Ireland / Netherlands / Spain
Bulgaria / Finland / Italy / Poland / Sweden
Croatia / France / Latvia / Portugal / United Kingdom
Cyprus / Germany / Lithuania / Romania / Other
Czech Republic / Greece / Luxembourg / Slovakia

2.  Apart from the country in which your company is based, in how many countries of the European Union do you regularly sell products and/or services?

Please tick
None
1
2
3
4
5 or more

3.  Please indicate which of the following best describes the size of your company/your group of companies?

Please tick / Company / Group
Self-employed
1- 9 employees
10-49 employees
50-249 employees
250 or more employees
Not applicable

4.  Please indicate the term which best describes your company and its activities:

Manufacturer
Importer
Formulator
Other downstream user
(other than formulators)
Distributor

5.  In which of the following sectors are you involved? Please tick all that apply.

Aerosols / Biocidal products
Basic chemicals / Plant protection products
Speciality chemicals / Detergents and cleaning products
Formulation of chemical products / Personal care products
Metals and metal alloys / Cosmetics
Auxiliaries for industry / Paints, inks and coatings
Adhesives and glues / Dyes and Pigments
Fertilisers / Toys
Polymers / Electronics
Plastics / Textiles
Synthetic Rubber / Furniture
Paper and pulp / Aerospace and Defence
Lubricants, oils and related products / Automotive
Other chemicals production activities / Packaging / Retail
Retail / Other manufacturing
Food / Other

1.2  Impact of CLP implementation on SMEs

This section concerns the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 on the Classification, Labelling and Packaging of substances and mixtures (the 'CLP Regulation'), which replaced the previous system of the Dangerous Substances Directive (Directive 67/548/EEC) and the Dangerous Preparations Directive (Directive 1999/45/EC) in 2010 and 2015, respectively.

6.  If you are a chemicals manufacturer, importer or a formulator did you have to undertake any of the following activities as a result of the implementation of the CLP Regulation?

Activity relating to CLP / Please tick all that apply
Training
Purchase of new IT and software
Re-classification of substances
Re-classification of mixtures
Re-labelling of products
Re-packaging of products

7.  If you are a chemicals manufacturer, formulator or distributor, did implementation of the CLP Regulation (i.e. replacing the Dangerous Substances Directive (DSD) and Dangerous Preparations Directive (DPD)) impact your business in any of the following ways? When answering this question please consider CLP related impacts only, rather than those related to the economic crisis or to the REACH Regulation.

Activity relating to CLP / Please tick all that apply
Required the employment of new staff to meet classification and labelling requirements
Led to a short term increase in costs
Increased our customer base due to greater harmonisation across the EU
Increased our import of products from outside the EU
Led to an increase in our ability to export due to greater harmonisation globally
Led to a decrease in sales due to increased competition in the EU market
None of the above
Don’t know
Other impacts (please describe in box below)
Please add any further details

8.  If you are a downstream user of chemicals did implementation of the CLP impact on your business in any of the following ways?

Activity relating to CLP / Please tick
Required training of staff to ensure they understood the new pictograms and hazard and precautionary statements
Increased the number of suppliers placing chemical products on the EU market
Decreased the price of chemical products due to increased competition
Required a review of your risk assessments under the Chemical Agents Directive (Directive 98/24/EC) due to changes in classification
Required a re-labelling of our products
Resulted in actions under other legislation (such as requirements under the Seveso Directive)
None of the above
Other (please describe below)
Don’t know
Please add any further details

9.  Under the CLP Regulation, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) receives proposals for harmonised classifications of chemical substances. It also consults stakeholders before adopting an opinion. Have you ever submitted a proposal to ECHA or participated in a public consultation by ECHA?

Submitted a proposal to ECHA / Participated in an ECHA public consultation
Yes
No
Please provide further comments on the accessibility of these processes to SMEs:

10.  Does your company incur significant costs on an annual basis in complying with the CLP Regulation or other chemicals legislation (other than REACH)? If yes, please indicate which types of costs your company incurs. Please rank the different types of costs from most significant (1) to least significant.

Types of costs / Please tick all that apply / Rank (1=highest)
CLP classification requirements for substances and mixtures
Complying with CLP labelling and packaging requirements
Complying with other chemicals legislation (other than CLP or REACH)
Laboratory testing required to comply with chemicals legislation (other than REACH)
Understanding and keeping up-to-date with changes in legal requirements
Training staff to ensure compliance with legal requirements
Inspections or audits by authorities and related administrative requirements
Other (please describe in box below)
We do not incur significant costs
Don’t know
Please add any further details

1.3  Hazard Classification and Communication

The section concerns the rules for the hazard classification of chemicals and the communication of these hazards to users, workers and consumers.

11.  Please indicate the extent to which you agree with the following statements relating to hazard communication measures enforced by CLP.

Comprehension of labelling information / Strongly disagree / Disagree / Neither agree nor disagree / Agree / Strongly agree / Don’t know
CLP hazard pictograms are generally representative of the actual hazard
Employers understand the CLP pictograms and information provided on labels regarding the safe use of chemicals
The CLP classification of a chemical product influences the choice of employers to buy it for use by their workers
Workers understand the CLP pictograms and information provided on labels regarding the safe use of chemicals
Consumers understand the CLP pictograms and information provided on labels regarding the safe use of chemicals
Workers understand the additional voluntary safe use icons that are included on certain products (e.g. cleaning products)
CLP labelling requirements should be complemented by voluntary industry initiatives to promote the safe use of chemicals
Consumers understand the additional voluntary safe use icons that are included on certain products (e.g. cleaning products)
Consumers generally do not look beyond the label for hazard information and information on safe use
The information currently required to be included on labels is necessary and appropriate
The hazard classification of a chemical product influences the choice of a consumer
Providing information on chemical hazards to consumers should rely more on novel tools, such as QR-codes, apps and websites

12.  Could the tools and mechanisms used for communicating the hazards of substances and mixtures (such as pictograms, hazard and precautionary phrases, and other labelling) be simplified and/or improved? If yes, please provide further explanation.

Yes / No / Don’t know / Please provide further explanation:

13.  Please indicate the extent of the impacts of the CLP Regulation and other EU hazard communication requirements.

Large negative impact / Low negative impact / Neutral / No change / Low positive impact / Large positive impact / Don’t know
Increased access to classification data for substances
More consistent hazard classifications across substances
Safe use of chemicals by workers
Safe use of chemicals by consumers
Changes in packaging requirements
Preparedness for industrial accidents
Increased awareness of the potential health impacts of chemical products
Increased awareness of the potential environmental impacts of chemical products

14.  In addition to the labelling and packaging requirements under the CLP Regulation, are you aware of any other legal requirements under other legislation that were triggered by a CLP classification and that have affected your business?

Yes / No / Don’t know / Please provide further explanation:

1.4  Regulatory fitness of the chemicals legislation framework (excluding REACH)

This section concerns the chemicals legislation framework, which includes horizontal chemicals legislation (such as CLP and Good Laboratory Practice, GLP) and product-specific legislation (such as legislation on biocides, plant protection products, cosmetics, detergents, fertilisers, explosives, toys and medical devices). It also includes chemicals-related parts of environmental legislation (such as Seveso, waste framework, water framework), worker safety legislation and transport legislation.

15.  Please indicate the extent to which you agree with the following statements relating to the EU chemicals legislation framework overall:

Strongly disagree / Disagree / Neutral / Agree / Strongly Agree / I don't know
Chemicals legislation is sufficiently harmonised across Member States for the proper functioning of the European single market
The EU chemicals legislation framework is coherent
The EU chemicals legislation framework contains gaps
The EU chemicals legislation framework has overlaps
The EU chemicals legislation framework is consistently enforced by Member States

16.  If you are aware of any specific cases of incoherence (gaps or missing links, overlaps, inconsistencies, etc.) between different pieces of chemicals or chemicals-related legislation, please indicate these here.

Please describe any incoherence here:

17.  How do you keep up-to-date with changes in regulatory requirements under EU chemicals legislation, for example, with respect to changes in labelling or packaging requirements, or in risk management requirements? Do you monitor the Adaptations for Technical Progress (ATPs) that are made to the legislation yourself, or do you rely on others for information on how these may affect classification, labelling, packaging and risk management?

Tick the answer that best reflects your approach
My company monitors the conclusions of ATPs
We rely on an external service provider to tell us of changes introduced by ATPs
We rely on our national association to tell us of changes introduced by ATPs
We rely on our suppliers to inform us of any changes that impact on us
None of the above / other (please describe below)
Don’t know

18.  Do you have any final comments you wish to make about the implementation of chemicals legislation excluding REACH?

Please add…

Glossary

·  Manufacturer: A company that manufactures a chemical substance within the European Union.

·  Importer: A company that is responsible for importing chemical substances or mixtures into the European Union.

·  Distributor: A company, including a retailer, that only stores and places on the market a substance, on its own or in a mixture, for third parties.

·  Downstream user: A company that uses a substance, either on its own or in a mixture, in the course of his industrial or professional activities. This can involve any processing, formulation, treatment, mixing, production of a mixture or article or any other utilisation. This excludes distributors.

·  Formulator: A sub-set of downstream users that mixes together substances and/or mixtures to produce a chemical mixture

·  CLP: Regulation No (EC) 1272/2008 on the classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures, also called the 'CLP Regulation'.

·  GLP: The Principles of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP), which constitute quality requirements for non-clinical safety studies on chemicals.

·  REACH: Regulation No (EC) 1907/2006 on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH).

·  ECHA: The European Chemicals Agency, based in Helsinki, Finland.

·  Fitness check: A fitness check is a comprehensive evaluation of multiple pieces of European legislation. It assesses their effectiveness, efficiency, relevance and coherence, as well as the added value of having such legislation on a European level.

·  Chemicals legislation framework: Chemicals legislation comprises a wide variety of legislation that governs the risk management of chemicals. It includes legislation that regulates chemical substances and mixtures, as well as legislation regulating products containing chemicals. It also covers chemicals-related parts of environmental legislation, worker safety legislation and transport legislation.