Malta SDS Authoring

Malta is a member of the European Union and as such is bound by EU regulations. For pure substances, Maltese SDSs must be compliant with the EU’s GHS based CLP-regulation No. 1272/2008 – SDSs authored to be compliant with Directive 67/548/EEC have expired. For mixtures, SDSs must be compliant with 1272/2008.

Malta is fully compliant with EU chemical regulations, however there are additional “General Binding rules” (GBR’s) that govern small to medium sized businesses operating in Malta as well as required permits for larger enterprises. These regulations are in regard to protecting the environment from chemical substances, and may be important to those seeking to do business in Malta, for more information regarding GBR’s, legislation and other policies please refer to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.

The EU has fully adopted GHS under their CLP Regulation (Regulation on classification, labeling and packaging of substances and mixtures). The deadline for having new SDSs has passed for pure substances – it was November 30, 2010. The deadline for mixtures was May 31, 2015. Not all the building blocks in the United Nations’ Purple Book were adopted by the EU CLP regulation. Furthermore, the EU has adopted the EU No 453/2010 format for SDSs, which goes well beyond what was recommended in the Purple Book.

It is relatively straightforward to have a single SDS for use among the countries of the European Union and European Free Trade Association, so long as it is in the necessary languages. Countries other than Malta in the EU and EFTA where Maltese or English is an official language include Ireland and the United Kingdom. Having a single document for use in the United States and the European Union should be avoided due to significant differences between the two systems.