for consumers. ACI recently affirmed a set of ingredient
communication principles to guide our advocacy in 2018.
ACI continues its work with members and related trade
associations to address proposed regulatory activity by the New
York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC).
In New York, the Commission has issued a new draft of the
Guidance on Cleansing Products Information Disclosure. It remains
unclear (as of this writing) when NYSDEC will issue the final
Disclosure Guidance. Furthermore, ACI will assist its members
as we can as they prepare to meet the requirements of the
recently enacted law in California, the Cleaning Product Right
to Know Act of 2017.
ACI will continue to stay engaged with EPA’s Safer Choice
program through our advocacy of science-based principles
for ingredient and product criteria. We are proud of being
recognized as a Safer Choice Partner of the Year by EPA in 2017.
•••
Mae Hrycak, Director of Regulatory Affairs,
Nexreg Compliance Inc.
The year 2018 will be an eventful period in the North American
regulatory field. Several new regulation deadlines are scheduled
to take place that are expected to keep the industry quite busy,
particularly in regards to the Globally Harmonized System of
Classification & Labeling of Chemicals (GHS).
The Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System
(WHMIS) GHS deadline for manufacturers and importers is
June 1, 2018. All products manufactured and imported into
Canada on and after this date require Safety Data Sheets (SDS)
and workplace labels that comply with the new regulations.
Distributors have until Sept. 1, 2018
to obtain the new SDS and labels, at
which point they must start providing
them to down-stream users. Employers
need to ensure all documents in their
facilities are in GHS format by Dec. 1,
2018. You may recall that the initial
WHMIS GHS deadline was supposed
to be in 2017. When Health Canada
announced the deadline extension
to 2018, industry experienced mixed
Hrycak
emotions of shock, frustration and excitement. The extension
resulted from an industry stakeholder request for a less restrictive
method to protect chemical percentages as confidential business
information (CBI). Additionally there were several other
items proposed by stakeholders, including the ability to claim
CBI for ingredients that are CMRRs (carcinogens, mutagens,
reproductive toxicants and respiratory sensitizers). The Act and
Regulation amendments are expected to be published in the
Canada Gazette in 2018, prior to the WHMIS GHS deadline.
For the U.S. GHS Hazard Communication Standard, which has
been in place for several years, there are no significant changes
to report. A reminder to stragglers who are still using the old
standard: convert immediately to the new SDS and label format!
U.S. suppliers will instead be focused on ensuring compliance
with the newly amended California Proposition 65 regulations,
which take effect Aug. 30, 2018. Many companies that have
recently expended a large number of resources for new GHS
labels may now be distraught over the idea of re-designing labels
to comply with these new California regulations. Fortunately,
there is an unlimited sell-through date for existing products
February 2018 Spray 21