The federal or cantonal authorities regularly check whether the manufacturers, including importers and dealers correctly adhere to the provisions of the chemicals legislation.
The enforcement powers for the Chemicals legislation are split between the federal and cantonal authorities. Whereas the former administer central responsibilities such as monitoring the self-regulation (classification, safety data sheet), the latter fulfil the responsibilities for which a local presence is advantageous: Control of trade, checking that reporting, notifying and authorisation obligations are met, checking the labelling, etc.
As the Chemicals Legislation in recent years has had to frequently record changes to the legislation in rapid succession, common priorities for the work of the authorities are defined for the market control, and are mainly undertaken according to the following scheme:
- To provide information
potentially concerned companies are informed of the legal situation - Empowerment
information materials and seminars are made available to the concerned companies - Control
controls are carried out after a suitable period.
Benefits of the controls
The Swiss Chemicals Legislation is largely harmonised with the European Chemicals Legislation. With the GHS labelling system, the worldwide harmonised system for classifying and labelling chemical products, Switzerland has adopted an internationally valid system for labelling chemicals.
The market controls also contribute, such that Swiss products are fit for the European and world markets.
Last modification 24.05.2017
