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On December 14, 2021, Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health notified WTO of the draft amendments on the Notification of the Ministry of Public Health Re: Labels of Hazardous Substances Responsible for the Food and Drug Administration B.E. 2558 (2015) (Notification No. G/TBT/N/THA/652)[1] for comments until February 12, 2022. As proposed, the signal word (danger/warnings) will be a mandatory label element for small containers.
The notification B.E.2558 (2015) was published in the Government Gazette on March 19, 2015 to implement GHS Rev.3 for hazardous chemicals for household and public health use under the control of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It took effect on March 20, 2015 and granted a one-year transitional period for single substances and a five-year transitional period for mixtures.
The hazardous chemicals in Thailand are governed by six authorities – the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Fisheries, the Department of Livestock Development, the FDA, the Department of Industrial Works (DIW), and the Department of Energy Business. They are responsible for their own respective list of hazardous substances (Annex 1 ~Annex 6) and implement controls as established by the Hazardous Substance Act[2] through departmental notifications. The FDA is responsible for Annex 4 which covers 265 hazardous substances.
According to the notification B.E.2558 (2015), for these hazardous substances manufactured, sold and possessed in Thailand, the below label elements are obliged to display on small containers, including the chemical name (or IUPAC names) and the ratio of active ingredients (AI) which are hazardous substances, trade name (if available), and hazard pictograms. The other label elements can be put on the leaflets or on the packaging labels. If the draft amendment is approved, the signal word will also be required on small containers.
As proposed, a one-year transitional period will be given to manufacturers and importers of hazardous chemicals to update their labels if they have notified the Type 1 hazardous substance or registered the Type 2 and Type 3 hazardous substances prior to the effective date of this new notification.
Note: Hazardous substances in Thailand are classified into Type 1, 2, 3 and 4 with different control requirements, of which Type 4 are prohibited hazardous substances. More details can be found here.
