In order to monitor the status of implementation of the GHS, the secretariat has started to collect information publicly available from various sources (reports from members of the GHS Sub-Committee or NGOs, reports submitted to or issued by other United Nations organs, programs or specialized agencies (UNECE, UNITAR, IMO, ICAO, UNEP, WHO, ILO) or other intergovernmental organizations (European Commission, APEC), non-governmental organizations, as well as reports on various workshops, seminars, conferences and other events organized in relation with the implementation of the GHS.

This information has been compiled and summarized, country by country, on this page. Since implementation of the GHS is a dynamic process, this information will be regularly reviewed and completed on the basis of any new information made available.

Several international organizations as well as United Nations programmes and specialized agencies concerned with chemical safety in the field of transport or the environment, occupational health and safety, pesticide management and prevention and treatment of poisoning, are in the process of implementing the GHS by developing, amending or revising their relevant international instruments. Detailed information about the progress of the work in the different areas is given in this page, under "Implementation through international legal instruments, recommendations, codes and guidelines".

Governments, and any other stakeholders, may submit any relevant information to the following address: ghs_implementation@unece.org. This information will be included on this webpage after verification by the secretariat. Of particular interest are the names of any legal instruments, codes or standards which have been adopted or amended to reflect the provisions of the GHS, their details (date of application, transitional period, publication details, internet address), and name and address of administrations responsible for their implementation.

Australia

Work on implementation of the GHS is proceeding across various chemical regulatory sectors in Australia. Policy development in each of the key sectors is generally undertaken by an Australian Government agency, with implementation of the policy undertaken by Australian, State and Territory government agencies (nine governments).

The key sectors in Australia, which have historically evolved, are workplace chemicals, poisons, agricultural and veterinary chemicals, industrial chemicals, transport of dangerous goods and therapeutic goods. Most chemicals are captured by the scope of more than one sector. Progress towards implementation of the GHS across other chemical sectors in Australia is ongoing, with regular consultation occurring between policy developers and regulators of the different sectors.

For international transport of dangerous goods, see Implementation through international legal instruments, recommendations, codes and guidelines

Brunei Darussalam is in the process of undertaking a situation and gap analysis to review the current chemical management system as a whole.

Several challenges are needed to both chemicals management and GHS implementation. First, present regulations are confined to pesticides. Second, controls on other chemicals are based on institutional measures, where a number of various agencies deal with chemicals, but need further coordination. Third, the majority of industry is small and medium size enterprises which lack capacity. Fourth, labelling awareness among stakeholders and users is low.

For international transport of dangerous goods, see Implementation through international legal instruments, recommendations, codes and guidelines

The Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests made presentations on the GHS during workshops on chemical conventions and the IFCS held in Madagascar in 2004. The workshops attracted a wide range of public and private sector participants, included from industry, health, labour and agriculture. These presentations served as a key awareness raising tool for the new system.

For international transport of dangerous goods, see Implementation through international legal instruments, recommendations, codes and guidelines

In April 2002, the National Chemical Industry Association (ANIQ), during its Board Meeting, approved the following actions needed to establish the GHS for the chemical industry:

During 2003 ANIQ succeeded in including the complete set of Standards and regulations related to the GHS in the annual standardization programs. There is still some work to be done - NOM-018-STPS - 1998 System for the identification and communication of dangers and risks caused by dangerous chemical substances in workplaces, including the SDS requirements.

For international transport of dangerous goods, see Implementation through international legal instruments, recommendations, codes and guidelines

Myanmar established the National Commission for Environmental Affairs, in 1990. Among its programs, Myanmar has adopted Agenda 21, one part of which is to promote the environmentally sound management of toxic chemicals and hazardous waste. There is no specific institution assigned to the task of overall management of chemicals and waste, but there are a number of existing frameworks in legislation, classification and labelling standards that could accommodate the GHS.

For international transport of dangerous goods, see Implementation through international legal instruments, recommendations, codes and guidelines

During 2005-2007, Nigeria participated as a pilot country in the UNITAR/ILO Global GHS Capacity Building Programme.

A National GHS Planning Meeting was held in 2005 to discuss infrastructure and development of the GHS project. The National GHS Coordinating Agency is the Federal Ministry of Environment and members of the GHS Implementation Committee include key governmental departments and representatives of business and industry, and public interest and labour organizations.

Nigeria has being working since April 2006 in the development of a harmonized Hazardous Chemicals Management Bill. The draft Act was subject to a sectoral review process for multi-stakeholder input during the first quarter of 2007. This process lead to the development of a strategic plan for national GHS implementation in 2008.

For international transport of dangerous goods, see Implementation through international legal instruments, recommendations, codes and guidelines

During 2005-2007, Senegal participated as a pilot country in the UNITAR/ILO Global GHS Capacity Building Programme.

In 2005, Senegal, with coordination by the Ministry of Environment, initiated its GHS Capacity Building Project, including committee membership from key governmental departments and representatives of business and industry, and public interest and labour organizations. A National GHS Planning Meeting was held to discuss infrastructure and development of the GHS project. As part of the initial activities for the implementation of the GHS, Senegal undertook the national GHS situation and gap analysis and the comprehensibility testing training.

At present, the following 27 countries are members of the European Union:

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

The candidate countries Croatia, Turkey and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia already started to implement current legislation.

Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are the members of the European Economic Area (EEA). The EEA Agreement allows them to participate in the EU Internal Market, while not assuming the full responsibilities of EU membership. All new Community legislation in areas covered by the EEA is integrated into the Agreement through an EEA Joint Committee decision and subsequently becomes part of the national legislation of the EEA EFTA States. This also apply to the EU Regulation which implements the GHS.

• The integration of the hazard classification principles of the GHS into the next revision of the FAO Guidelines on Pesticide Registration;
• The integration of the labelling principles of the GHS into the next revision of the FAO Guidelines on Good Labelling Practice for Pesticides;
• Awareness building and training of pesticide regulators, pesticide manufacturers and distributors, and pesticide users on the GHS, through FAO pesticide management programmes and in cooperation with others.

At its twelfth session, the Sub-Committee of experts on the GHS was informed about the results of a FAO questionnaire on the impact of the GHS on the labelling of agricultural pesticides.

The answers received showed that even though GHS implementation for pesticide labelling had been initiated in eight countries of three different regions, the majority of the countries still relied on the guidance provided by FAO and WHO (in particular the “WHO Recommended Classification of Pesticides by Hazard”) for the toxicological classification of pesticide products.

In view of the results of the questionnaire, the FAO Panel of Experts on Pesticide Management recommended that, as a transitional measure, both the existing WHO classification system and the new classification based on the GHS be included in the new “FAO Guidelines on Good Labelling Practice”. The Panel also concluded that, since the necessity of a single independent international source for the classification of pesticides had been identified, there was an urgent need to harmonize the GHS toxicological classification and the WHO classification of pesticides by hazard.

For more information, see document UN/SCEGHS/12/INF.18

For the transport of dangerous goods, the GHS is implemented through the "UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods. Model Regulations" and the following transport legal international instruments:

(a) International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code (IMDG Code);
(b) ICAO Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air (ICAO TI);
(c) European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR);           
(d) Regulations concerning the International Transport of Dangerous Goods by Rail (RID);
(e) European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Inland Waterways (ADN);

For the transport of dangerous goods, the GHS is implemented through the UN Model Regulations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods and the following transport legal international instruments:

The second revised edition of the GHS is implemented through the 15th revised edition of the UN Model Regulations, whose provisions are reflected in the legal instruments mentioned in (a) to (e) above, applicable during the period 2008-2009.

The third revised edition of the GHS will be implemented during the period 2011-2012, once the above mentioned transport legal instruments make mandatory the relevant provisions of the 16th revised edition of the UN Model Regulations.

Figures 1 and 2 summarize the relationship between the different revised editions of the GHS and the UN Model Regulations and related transport legal instruments.

Table 1 summarizes the status of implementation of the GHS (Rev.2 and Rev.3), by hazard class, through the UN Model Regulations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (Rev.15 and Rev.16) and the major legal instruments regulating transport of dangerous goods.

Since the work assigned to the group was not completed at the end of the period 2005-2006, the Conference of the Parties decided (at its 8th meeting, which was held in Nairobi in December 2006) to extend the mandate of the Joint Correspondence Group so as to allow the work be continued during the biennium 2007-2008.

Information regarding the work of the joint correspondence group is available on the Basel Convention website (http://www.basel.int/techmatters/) under the heading "Hazard characteristics H10, H11". The Secretariat of the Basel Convention reports regularly on the progress of the work of the joint correspondence group to the Sub-Committee of experts on the GHS.