Ordinance on Substances

Currently, a draft chemical substances law which will replace and amend the Poison Law and the Ordinance on Substances has been submitted to the Parliament. It is expected that this will bring further harmonization with EU legislation. This will eliminate the present requirement for Swiss manufacturers to apply, where necessary, Swiss hazard labeling, which is not equivalent to the EU hazard labeling. At present, EU manufacturers may use EU labeling for exports to Switzerland but must quote the BAG-T number and poison dass. 

Chemical regulations in Switzerland are the responsibility of two institutions the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health, Bundesamt fiir Gesundheitswesen (BAG), and the Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests and Landscape, BUWAL (Bundesamt fur Umwelt, Wald und Landschaft). Although the requirements for the notification of new chemical substances are very similar to those of the EU, there are some specific features [34]. Any manufacturer or importer of a chemical substance has to perform an environmental compatibility assessment as part of a self-control according to the Ordinance on Substances [35]. This is not just for notified substances it includes all products. 

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