Conventions, agreements and other documents

Chemicals pose a real threat to the environment and human health in all their stages of production, all the way to transport, their use and disposal. People of all ages, from children to the elderly and people of all walks of life, regardless of race, nationality, beliefs, social status or any other criteria and characteristics, come into contact with dangerous products on a daily basis. Given the scale of use and the volume of world trade in chemicals, it was necessary to establish a unified and harmonized system for the classification and labeling of hazardous chemicals - Globally Harmonized System (GHS). The GHS aims to provide all information on the physical hazards and toxicity of chemicals and to improve the protection of human health and the environment during the handling, transport and use of chemicals. The GHS also provides a basis for harmonizing rules and regulations on chemicals at national, regional and global levels, which is also an important factor in facilitating trade. The EU adopted the GHS with the Regulation (EC No 1272/2008) on Classification, Labeling and Packaging of Hazardous Chemicals (CLP) and supplemented it with the Regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). In the EU, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is responsible for chemicals in the EU (providing information, implementing legislation, ensuring the competitiveness of the EU chemicals market, etc.).

The following conventions are the most important in the field of international regulation:

- International trade in hazardous chemicals - Rotterdam Convention,
- Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal,
- Minamata Convention on Mercury.

More content on chemicals in the EU is available on the European Commission's website.