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Japan is consulting on a ministerial notice1 to clarify the definition of “carcinogenic substances” regulated under the Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health (hereafter referred to as the Ordinance), a subordinate regulation to the Industrial Safety and Health Act (ISHL). Public comments are welcome until November 19, 2022.
As proposed, “carcinogenic substances” (excluding ethanol) are those classified as category 1 for carcinogenicity in accordance with the Japanese Industrial Standard JIS Z 7252. It is expected to be promulgated in early December and take effect on April 1, 2023.
On May 31, 2022, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) approved the amendments to the Ordinance, which will be introduced in stages over the next two years (CL news2). Under the ISHL mechanism, hazardous chemical substances that are subject to mandatory SDSs and labelling obligations are also subject to risk assessment in the workplace. According to the revised Ordinance, an employer shall comply with more requirements in regard to the risk assessment of these substances. If the subject substance is a “carcinogenic substance”, the requirements will be more stringent. For example, the employers shall:
keep records for 3 years of the safety measures taken based on the results of risk assessment, the status of workers’ exposure to substances subject to risk assessment, and interviews with workers;
keep records for 30 years of the workers’ names, outlines of work, work records, and the status of workers’ exposure to carcinogenic substances.
However, it does not apply to enterprises handling carcinogenic substances on a temporary basis.
So far, 674 substances are subject to mandatory SDS and labeling requirements/risk assessment in the workplace. 234 substances are newly designated in February 2022 and to implement the requirements from April 1, 2024 (CL news3). More substances will be designated in batches from the officially classified 2,900 substances with GHS classifications (see details here4).
