1. Background before REACH

1.1 Chemical regulations before REACH

Before REACH, European legislation on chemicals was based on a number of legal instruments, which were introduced gradually.

• In 1967, the classification and labeling of hazardous chemicals were regulated by Directive 67/548/EEC. This directive was supplemented in 1988 by an equivalent directive on preparations (directive 88/379/EEC, amended in 1999 by directive 1999/45/EC).

  These two regulations make it possible to precisely identify the hazardous properties of substances or preparations, to classify them according to these properties, and to inform users, and in particular workers, of these hazards by means of labelling or the Safety Data Sheet (SDS).