The Safety Data Sheet (SDS) of chemical products provides information on chemical products (substances or mixtures) in the aspects of safety, health, environmental protection, etc. and recommends protective measures and response measures in case of emergencies. In some countries, SDS is also referred to as a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS).

The SDS is a means for suppliers of chemical products to transfer basic hazardous information on chemicals (including information on the transportation, handling, disposal, storage and emergency action) to their downstream recipients. The SDS transmits this information to public institutions, service providers and other recipients of the chemicals.

This recommendatory national standard has replaced GB/T 17519.1-1999 Safety Data Sheet for Chemical Products: Section 1: Content and Order of Sections and GB 16483-2000 Preparation Provisions on Safety Data Sheets for Chemical Products. It sets the structure, content and generic layout of SDS for companies that are obliged to prepare a standard SDS for their chemical products.

The standard is designed to standardize the information of chemical products in the safety, health, and environmental aspects and to establish a unified format (such as terminology, numbering and the sequence of titles) and sets specific rules on how to provide information on chemical products.

Under GB/T 16483-2008, a standard Chinese SDS should consist of the following 16 sections:

• 1)      Chemical Product & Company Information

• 2)      Hazards Identification

• 3)      Composition/Information on ingredients

• 4)      First-Aid Measures

• 5)      Fire Fighting Measures

• 6)      Accidental Release Measures

• 7)      Handling and Storage

• 8)      Exposure Controls and Personal Protection

• 9)      Physical and Chemical Properties

• 10)   Stability and Reactivity

• 11)   Toxicological Information

• 12)   Ecological Information

• 13)   Disposal Considerations

• 14)   Transport Information

• 15)   Regulatory information

• 16)   Other information

The technical committee for this standard is the National Standardization Technical Committee of Chemical and other drafters included the NRCC-SAWS (National Registration Center for Chemical, SAWS), Zhonghua chemical industry institute of standardization, Shanghai Research Institute of Chemical Industry, China National Chemical economic and Technical Development Centre, Qingdao Safety Engineering Institute of SINOPEC.