Frequently Asked Questions

In Russia the UN-GHS Recommendations are implemented via the following standards: GOST 32419-2013 Classification of chemicals. General requirements; GOST 32423-2013 Mixtures classification of hazard for health; GOST 32424-2013 Classification of chemicals for environmental hazards. General principles; GOST 32425-2013 Mixtures classification of hazard for environmental.

Having SDS is a legislation’s requirement in handling export chemicals in the majority of world’s countries. Form and contents of SDS should satisfy exact legislation’s requirements of given country/region of export. SDS is required for haulage, passing customs and obtaining licenses/certificates of chemicals.

Both these terms describe the same document – Safety Data Sheet. (Material) Safety Data Sheet was just until recently widely used in the US’ national legislation, and now is considered outdated. Nowadays in regulatory documents of different countries, including the US, SDS abbreviation is used.

Safety Data Sheet is a necessary part of technical documentation for chemical production. Form and contents of SDS is defined in UN Recommendations “Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals” (GHS) which are internationally recognized. Document’s structure is made of 16 sections placed in definite order, for instance physical and chemical properties should be listed in section 9, handling information should be in section 14. However, it’s necessary to remember that the UN-GHS Recommendations are applied in modules into given national legislation, so the given country decides which elements of GHS they need to use in their system of handling chemicals. So the major differences are in hazard classifications (section 2) and forms of Safety Data Sheets. Distinctive difference of Russian SDS (RSP) is that they should be registered in Rosstandart’s (Federal Agency for Technical Regulating and Metrology) Safety Passport Register and presence of front page containing: stamps and signatures of both owners of the passport and Register’s maintainers. Another distinction is that in each subsection (except 1.2) all information must be referenced. Even data like “no”, “not present” and “not used” must be referenced. In comparison with SDS for export which uses short standardized phrases, RSP contains more expanded information. Structures of both RSP and SDS include sections in order to satisfy legislation requirement of a country, to which export is intended. In particular, section 1.2 must contain an emergency phone number, in Russia it’s usually manufacturer’s phone number, whereas in Europe it could be various toxicology centers recognized at a national lever, emergency services, etc. Maximum permissible concentrations in work area air and handling requirements also must satisfy national legislation. Therefore, it’s not sufficient to either translate RSP into English for export chemicals or SDS into Russian for import to Russia because national requirements for safety passports development must be followed.

Unlike Russian SDS for chemicals, SDS does not require registration. It varies depending on circumstances, though. For instance, in Turkey SDS can only be developed by an attested certified specialist.

Product’s contents (mass concentrations of constituents with their ID numbers (CAS numbers, EU and Registration numbers in case the substance was registered in REACH); copies of production’s regulatory documents (national standards, standard specification, standard of organization, etc); laboratory tests protocols; UN number; product name in Russian and English; RSP (Russian Safety Passport); specific country or list of countries of planned export. All documents can be provided in electronic formats.