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On May 11, 2022, the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) issued a Notice1 to provide further clarification on the 100% ingredients disclosure issues on dangerous goods (DG) that shipped via the Waigaoqiao Area of Shanghai Port.
According to the Yangtze River Protection Law of the People's Republic of China2, the highly toxic chemicals, as well as other hazardous chemicals that are prohibited from inland waterway transport, are not allowed to transport in the Yangtze River Basin since March 1, 2021. Since the implementation of the Law, many shippers have been required to disclose 100% ingredients information on the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) to determine if the DG cargoes are prohibited to ship in the Yangtze River Basin, which has caused a lot of confusion and controversies as full disclosure on SDS is not mandatory according to China GHS and it may divulge trade secrets.
In this regard, the Shanghai MSA has elaborated the corresponding rules to address this issue on February 8, 2022 (CL news). However, in practice, shippers are still demanded by shipping agencies to provide full ingredients information on SDS when filling the shipment declaration. Considering such facts, the Shanghai MSA issued this Notice to further clarify the requirements and provide the below two methods for shippers to prove their DG cargoes are allowed to transport in the Yangtze River Basin, while without revising the original SDS and disclosing 100% ingredients.
Written Letter of Guarantee
According to the Notice, for mixtures that do not disclosure 100% ingredients information on SDS, if any of the three indicators (Acute Toxicity, Acute Aquatic Toxicity, Chronic Aquatic Toxicity) falls into Category 1, shippers shall provide all the information on relevant hazardous ingredients that contribute to the hazard category (Category 1), including the chemical name, CAS number, and concentration. However, it is not in line with the GB/T 17519-2013 Guidance on the compilation of safety data sheet for chemical products3, which only requires to disclose the hazardous ingredients above the thresholds associated with health or environmental hazards. Instead of revising the original SDS to indicate the information required by the Notice, the shippers are allowed to prepare a written letter of guarantee (provide GHS classification and hazard information) as a supplementary document to prove that the mixture is non-embargoed in accordance with the Law.
Green Channel - Pre-review and Publicity Service
As per the Notice, the Shanghai MSA opens a green channel for shippers in need.
Below is a case to facilitate your understanding.
According to the Shanghai MSA’s management, for mixture that discloses 100% ingredients information and of which all ingredients are not prohibited substances, it is regarded as non-embargoed goods, even if the SDS indicates that any of the three indicators (Acute Toxicity, Acute Aquatic Toxicity, Chronic Aquatic Toxicity) falls into Category 1. However, due to the consideration of commercial confidentiality, shippers want to transport the mixture as non-embargoed goods without disclosing 100% ingredients information. How to deal with this case? Procedures of the green channel will be like:
1) Shippers submit the SDS with 100% ingredients information (including chemical name, CAS number, hazard classification, etc.) to the Shanghai MSA;
2) After the audit and identification, the Shanghai MSA will make public the non-embargoed goods (of which ingredients are kept secret) and names of shippers on the official website.
If you have any questions regarding the issue on 100% ingredients disclosure of DG cargoes shipping via Waigaoqiao Area of Shanghai Port, please feel free to contact us ([email protected]).
Here are relevant articles prepared early by ChemLinked:
