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This is a rare example of a public-private partnership, since the industry will not only be asked to share the available data with the government, industry representatives will also be invited to participate in the data review and decision making for the target substances. On the part of the Japanese government, several authorities are participating in the project, including the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the Ministry of the Environment (MOE), Japan's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (JNIOSH) and the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (NITE).

While there is no obligation for businesses to actually include the same information on their labels and SDSs for a substance, GHS classification results by the government are intended to be used as a reference for businesses to create compliant labels and SDSs. In Japan, however, there are three main chemical laws (ISHL, PRTR and PDSCL)* that all refer to GHS-compliant SDSs and labels, each with different regulatory requirements. GHS-compliant SDSs and labels need to comply with JIS Z 7252 and 7253, based on GHS (Rev.6). The authorities are preparing an update to GHS (Rev.9).

The deadlines communicated on 18 April 2023 for industry participation are as follows:

• Declaration of intent (‘enrollment’): by 30 June 2023
• Submission of data and information: by 31 October 2023

The list with the 157 target substances for 2023 can be found on the official website of the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (NITE).

*       ISHL: The Industrial Safety and Health Law

PRTR: The Pollutant Release and Transfer Register

PDSCL: Japan's Poisonous and Deleterious Substances Control Law (Japanese only)