Legal requirements – chemical handling

The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, county administrative boards and municipalities also develop regulations and rules for chemicals.

Two EU regulations – REACH and CLP –are to be observed as a basis for the regulations applicable in Sweden, and the Swedish Chemicals Agency is responsible for the actual application of these.

The Swedish Chemicals Agency’s laws and regulations

REACH

REACH stands for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals and governs the registration, evaluation, authorisation requirements and restriction of chemicals. The basic principle is that manufacturers and importers must assess the hazards of the product, and also register it. The information must be communicated to the user via the safety data sheet and exposure scenarios. REACH sets out requirements for the format of safety data sheets and requires them to be provided in Swedish in Sweden.

The user of the chemical product is obliged to comply with the protective measures recommended by the supplier in the safety data sheet, hold updated safety data sheets, perform a risk assessment for their own work activities and check whether there are any special requirements in respect of restriction lists.

An overview of REACH at the Swedish Chemicals Agency

CLP

CLP stands for Classification, Labelling and Packaging and regulates the classification, labelling and packaging of chemical products. The CLP Regulation includes criteria for assessing the physical hazards, health hazards and environmental hazards of the product. The required labelling, i.e. standardised phrases and symbols, is determined on the basis of the classification. Requirements for packaging are defined in order to prevent harm to people and the environment, such as requirements for child-resistant closures.

The CLP Regulation in brief – Swedish Chemicals Agency

Rules when importing chemicals

If you intend to import chemical products into Sweden and they are included on the customs tariff list, you must first submit a business notification to the Swedish Chemicals Agency’s product register. “Import” means importing the product from a country outside the EU, as well as Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

If you import an annual volume in excess of 100 kg per product, you must also submit a product notification to the product register. You are responsible for ensuring that the product complies with the requirements of the applicable legislation and for assessing the risks that your use may entail. Please note that you are required to verify that the safety data sheet supplied with the product meets the requirements of the REACH Regulation.

These rules also apply if you package, repackage or rename products.

Chemical products at the Swedish Chemicals Agency

You are considered a distributor if you import chemical products and resell them. You are then responsible for ensuring that the product is classified, labelled and packaged in accordance with the CLP Regulation. You are also obliged to provide safety data sheets. These must be written in Swedish and include the information specified in the REACH Regulation.  

Working with chemical risks

Regulations on occupational health and safety risks

Information on the Swedish Work Environment Authority’s rules for chemical risks (av.se)

Regulations on chemical lists

Activities subject to authorisation and notification are covered by the Ordinance on Operator Self-inspections (1998:901) and are therefore obliged to list the handling of the chemical products (chemicals) and biotechnical organisms that may pose risks from a health or environmental standpoint.

In accordance with the Ordinance on Self-inspections, the chemicals list must include the following information as a minimum:

Name of the product or organism.
Scope and use of the product or organism.
Information on the product’s or organism’s hazardous properties with respect to human health and the environment, and
Product classification with regard to health or environmental hazards.
The Swedish Work Environment Authority’s statute on chemical work environment risks also defines requirements for a chemicals list, and this must include information about:

• the name of the product, which must not differ from that used for labelling
• the type of hazard – classification, pictograms, hazard statements
• where it is stored and otherwise occurs
• whether there are occupational exposure limits
• what other special rules may apply, such as training requirements or requirements for medical inspections.

The chemicals list is primarily intended to serve as support for assessing the risks to human health or the environment that may arise as a result of the activities. It can also be used as a basis for substituting chemicals with less hazardous ones, and as a tool for checking compliance with other chemical legislation.

Risk assessment

The risk that chemical hazards may cause ill health or accidents must be investigated and assessed. Work activities may not commence until the risk assessment has been completed and the necessary action has been taken to prevent ill health and accidents during handling. How the risk assessment is to be conducted and which factors are to be assessed are specified in the Swedish Work Environment Authority’s regulations on chemical work environment risks.

Chemicals list on the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency website

Waste disposal

Chemicals are regarded as hazardous waste. For information regarding legal requirements for the handling of hazardous waste, please see (link to waste disposal on the Stakeholder portal)

Product choice principle

"Anyone who conducts or intends to conduct an operation or take action must avoid using or selling chemical products or biotechnological organisms which may carry risks to human health or the environment, if they can be replaced by products or organisms which may be presumed to be less hazardous. Corresponding requirements apply to products that contain or have been treated with a chemical product or biotechnological organism."

Chapter 2, Section 4 of the Environmental Code on the Riksdag website