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Information about the status of the implementation of GHS in Japan

The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) which addresses the classification method of chemicals by hazard types and harmonized communication tools was approved and published by the United Nations (UN) GHS Sub-committee. The UN encourages countries to implement GHS worldwide by 2008. In response to GHS, Japan launched GHS Inter-ministerial Committee in 2001. The following are the GHS implementation milestones conducted in Japan so far:

• Translation of GHS-related UN documents into Japanese,
• Publication of GHS Classification Manual and Technical Guidance used for GHS classification and
• Classification of approximately 1,500 chemicals by GHS.

In order to implement GHS-based labeling and MSDS requirements in Japan, the Industrial Safety and Health Act was amended and enforced in 2006.
At the same time, the following Japanese Industrial Standards were amended and published in accordance with GHS.

• JIS Z7250:2005 (Safety Data Sheet for chemical products: Part 1 - Content and order of sections)
• Z7251:2006 (Labelling of chemicals based on GHS)
• Z7252:2009 (Classification of chemicals based on "Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS)")

The English translated version of GHS Classification Guidance and the classification results can be downloaded from the following links.

Classification Results

The classification results of approximately 1,500 chemicals can be downloaded from the following links, conducted by the Japanese GHS Inter-ministerial Committee in 2006 and translated into English by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in Japan.
Please be aware that the information is temporal and may subject to revision.

• The list of chemicals classified (73 KB, excel)
• Results of Classification
  ID 001 - 100  (14,532 KB, excel)
  ID 101 - 200  (14,069 KB, excel)
  ID 201 - 300  (13,865 KB, excel)
  ID 301 - 400  (14,387 KB, excel)
  ID 401 - 500  (14,390 KB, excel)
  ID 501 - 600  (14,683 KB, excel)
  ID 601 - 700  (14,338 KB, excel)
  ID 701 - 800  (14,472 KB, excel)
  ID 801 - 900  (14,310 KB, excel)
  ID 901 - 1000  (14,316 KB, excel)
  ID 1001 - 1100  (14,288 KB, excel)
  ID 1101 - 1200  (14,392 KB, excel)
  ID 1201 - 1300  (14,215 KB, excel)
  ID 1301 - 1400  (14,352 KB, excel)
  ID 1401 - 1424  (3,434 KB, excel)

METI conducted GHS classification for the chemicals designated by PRTR law and translated them into English. The classification results can be downloaded from the following links.
Classification results of 20 chemicals (2,963 KB, excel) - GHS classification was carried out in accordance with GHS Classification Manual and the Technical Guidance on GHS classification.
Classification results of 32 chemicals (4,613 KB, excel) - these are the revision of classification results by Inter-ministerial Committee in accordance with the official UN GHS textbook (2nd rev.).

METI and MOE conducted GHS classification for the chemicals designated by PRTR law and METI translated them into English. The classification results can be downloaded from the following links.
GHS classification was carried out in accordance with GHS Classification Guidance for the Japanese Government (Sep. 2008 version).
Classification results of 89 chemicals (13,218 KB, excel)
Classification results of 4 chemicals (629 KB, excel) - revision of the classification results by Inter-ministerial Committee

GHS Classification Guidance

"The Classification Manual" and "the Technical Guidance on GHS Classification" were integrated into "GHS Classification Guidance for the Japanese Government" in FY2008, which is revised at fixed intervals to reflect revision of the official UN GHS textbook and other changes.

GHS Classification Guidance for the Japanese Government 2nd revised (March, 2010) [PDF:1.1MB]
  Part 1  Introduction
  Part 2  Physical Hazards Guidance
  Part 3  Health Hazards Guidance
  Part 4  Environment Hazards Guidance / Appendix

This guidance is made for carrying out GHS classification more accurately and efficiently based on JIS Z7252 which shows the plan of the GHS classification of our country, and took internationally harmonized content into consideration.

GHS Classification Guidance for Enterprises 2nd revised (March, 2010) [PDF:1.3MB]
  Part 1   Introduction
  Part 2  Physical Hazards Guidance
  Part 3  Health Hazards Guidance
  Part 4  Environment Hazards Guidance / Appendix

Previous version: GHS Classification Guidance for Enterprises (March, 2009) [PDF:4,529MB]

GHS Classification Manual [PDF:586MB]
The main objective of the Classification Manual is to facilitate the classification of 1,500 chemicals within a limited schedule and to eliminate any discrepancies in classification among the experts. One unique point of this manual is that it allows users to refer to only reliable data sources for the classification of hazards, such as those that are peer-reviewed by international authorities, and non-peer-reviewed original data would not be used generally. This enables industries to save time by only checking peer-reviewed information.

The Technical Guidance on GHS classification [PDF:409KB]
The technical Guidance on GHS classification provided realistic approach for GHS 1500 classification experts. However, it is NOT considered to be globally comprehensive, although it keeps many consistencies to GHS official text.

Contact Us

For inquiries regarding the manuals and the classification results, please contact:

Chemical Management Policy Division
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

tel: +81-3-3501-0080
fax: +81-3-3580-6347
Email: qqhbbf@meti.go.jp

For any other enquiries, please contact:

Chemical Management Center
National Institute of Technology and Evaluation
2-49-10 Nishihara, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, 151-0066 Japan

tel: +81-3-3481-1999
fax: +81-3-3481-2900
Email: safe@nite.go.jp