European Commission has launched the 4-week public comment period for new CLP hazard classes

On 20 September, the European Commission launched the 4-week public comment period for new CLP hazard classes.

The following new classes are planned:

• ED Category 1: Known or suspected endocrine disruptors (EDs).
• ED Category 2: Suspected endocrine disruptors (ED)

The classification is to be made separately for human health (EUH380 or 381) or the environment (EUH430 or 431).

Evidence should be based on human and/or animal data. For classification in category 1, evidence shall be provided that the substance meets the following criteria:

(a) endocrine activity;

(b) an adverse effect in an intact organism or its progeny and future generations;

(c) a biologically plausible link between the endocrine activity and the adverse effect.

Category 2 is to be chosen if the evidence is not strong enough to assign it to category 1.

There will also be changes in the area of environmental fate of substances. Classification for PBT ("persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic", EUH440), vPvB ("very persistent and very bioaccumulative", EUH441), PMT ("persistent, mobile and toxic", EUH450) and vPvM ("very persistent and very mobile", EUH451) will be introduced.

The concentration limits for the classifications of mixtures are consistently 0.1%. The only exception is ED Cat. 2 substances (1%).

Be quick, the comment period of the accelerated procedure for these amendments ends already on 18 October 2022.

If you have any questions about these endpoints, please contact our experts Jan Oltmanns (environmental fate) and Ulrike Schuhmacher-Wolz (endocrine disruptors)