GHS labelling

Substances and mixtures subject to the expertise requirement according to the Chemicals Prohibition Ordinance (ChemVerbotsV) are not sold by Unite.

These include substances and mixtures with the following labels:

For technical and organisational reasons, the exceptions to prohibitions on placing on the market according to section 5(4) of the Chemicals Prohibition Ordinance cannot be applied at Unite, and all labels listed here are considered sufficient conditions for the affected substances and mixtures, including biocidal products, not to be offered at Unite.

Further prohibitions and restrictions according to e.g. Annex XVII of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH Regulation), Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 (POP Regulation) or Regulation (EC) No 1005/2009 (CFC Regulation) must also be observed.

Plant protection products within the meaning of the Plant Protection Act are excluded from sale at Unite.

The sale of medicinal products according to the Medicinal Products Act is excluded at Unite.

According to Article 31 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH Regulation), safety data sheets must be provided unsolicited to commercial customers if substances and mixtures have been classified as dangerous. The safety data sheet must be handed over to the recipient at the latest with the first delivery of the substance/mixture.

As an added value for the customer, the safety data sheet is available for download at any time next to the article data sheet on the article detail page.

For the listing of dangerous substances and mixtures subject to labelling requirements, as well as substances with the note EUH210 (safety data sheet available on request), the provision of a current safety data sheet in the electronic catalogue at Unite is a mandatory requirement.

In case of relevant changes in the safety data sheet, there is a retroactive information obligation according to Article 31 paragraph 9 of the REACH Regulation, whereby all customers who have been supplied in the last 12 months must be informed about the changes.

To comply with these obligations, it is necessary that you send us the updated safety data sheets by email to sdb@unite.eu, stating the respective Unite order number.

In addition to providing the safety data sheet, clear labelling must be made for the customer. This means that every item that meets these criteria must be labelled in the catalogue so that the customer is informed about the hazard before ordering.

The required information for labelling the individual articles/mixtures/substances can be found in the safety data sheet (SDS). Under point 2 or 2.2 (Classification according to Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008), the labelling (hazard pictograms, signal words and hazard statements) is given.

The article description must contain the following information:

• The hazardous substance labelling with pictogram according to GHS (not as an image, but as a tag in the electronic catalogue),

• The signal word (Warning or Danger),

• The hazard statements (H-statements with wording),

• A current safety data sheet,

• If applicable, special labelling according to Article 25 Paragraph 6 of Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 (CLP Regulation), i.e. supplementary hazard information and labelling elements (EUH statements).

For the representation, both pictograms and the signal words ‘Gefahr’ (= Danger) and ‘Achtung’ (= Warning) are available. When you include the labelling in the catalogue using the following format, Unite‘s system will automatically handle the display of the information.

Only the following pictograms are allowed:

These pictograms can be used in various combinations. You can apply multiple pictograms to a single product, with a maximum of four pictograms allowed per item.

The next paragraph explains how to implement this information in your catalogue. Use one of the two methods described, as these are the only ways to ensure correct display. Unite doesn‘t support and doesn‘t allow other representation forms, such as images or non-standard tags.

For the listing of biocidal products, a note is required, which must be included in the long description and should be easily readable and clearly distinguishable from the actual advertisement.

Biocidal product note: "Use biocidal products carefully. Always read the label and product information before use."

According to Article 72 Paragraph 3 of Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 (Biocidal Products Regulation), advertising for biocidal products must not be misleading in respect of the risks from the product to human or animal health or to the environment or its efficacy. In particular, the advertising of a biocidal product shall not include the terms "low-risk biocidal product", "non-toxic", "harmless", "natural", "environmentally friendly", "animal friendly" or any similar indications.

Please ensure that your articles are marketable for the respective country in which you wish to place the biocidal products on the market, and are approved according to Article 17 of the Biocidal Products Regulation, i.e. have a valid BAuA registration number (in the form N-00000) or a German- or European-wide approval number (e.g. DE-0000000-0000 or EU-0000000-0000).

In summary, the following information is mandatory:

• Biocidal product note.

• Name and active substance.

• Approval or BAuA registration number of the biocidal product.

• Safety data sheet.

• Labelling according to CLP Regulation as per paragraph 2.2 in the safety data sheet.

• If applicable, instructions for use, information on the area of application or prohibitions and restrictions (e.g. limitation to professional users).

• The product images must correspond with the product.

You can find an example file for the correct specification of the biocidal product note and other information in the following file:

According to Regulation (EU) 2017/745 on medical devices, disinfectants are classified as either medical devices, biocides or medicinal products. Only those articles that are specifically intended for cleaning, disinfection or sterilisation of the products mentioned in Art. 1 Para. 1, Para. 4 MDR-VO are to be qualified as medical devices.

Disinfectants used outside the cleaning of the products mentioned in this point, such as hand disinfectants, can be either biocides or medicinal products.

Whether the disinfectant is a medicinal product can be determined from the labelling on the packaging (in this case, the product contains a pharmaceutical central number, as well as information about risks and side effects). Moreover, it is usually a medicinal product if the disinfectant contains one or more prescription-only substances.

Disinfectants are considered biocides if the product can be assigned to one of the 22 product types from Annex V of the Biocidal Products Regulation EU 528/2012 and is provided with a valid registration or approval number from the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

The distribution of medicinal products is excluded at Unite (see above). When distributing biocidal products, the ‘biocidal product note’ must be attached.

The labelling of your products according to GHS is done via the elements SPECIAL_TREATMENT_CLASS and ARTICLE_FEATURES.

Labelling via SPECIAL_TREATMENT_CLASS

Each label is created in a separate SPECIAL_TREATMENT_CLASS element. The type="GHS" may occur multiple times. The hazard statements and precautionary statements must be specified within the ARTICLE_FEATURES.

Example for single GHS labelling with GHSSIGNAL:

Example for multiple GHS labelling with GHSSIGNAL:

Labelling via ARTICLE_FEATURES

In the ARTICLE_FEATURES section, the hazard statements and optionally the precautionary statements are specified. For multiple labelling, multiple FVALUE are used.

Alternatively to labelling via SPECIAL_TREATMENT_CLASS, the GHS labelling (e.g. GHS04, GHS07) and the GHSSIGNAL can also be created via the ARTICLE_FEATURES.

Example for single GHS labelling with GHSSIGNAL and hazard statement:

Example for multiple GHS labelling with GHSSIGNAL, hazard statements and precautionary statements:

Example for multiple GHS labelling with GHSSIGNAL, hazard statements and precautionary statements and French catalogue language:

Please note that for complete GHS labelling, the corresponding safety data sheet must also be transmitted. Safety data sheets are marked in the MIME_PURPOSE element with safety_data_sheet:

You can find detailed information on this in the article Safety Data Sheets.

In the ‘products file’, the hazardous substance labelling is done via the article features, via the columns FNAME and FVALUE.

Note: Details on the ‘products file’ can be found on the support page How to create a catalogue: CSV format.

GHS labelling

Enter the GHS labelling in the FNAME field and the corresponding value (GHS02, GHS07, GHS08 etc.) in the FVALUE field. If you haven‘t worked with article features before, use the fields FNAME1 and FVALUE1:

Multiple labelling is possible, using the pipe character ("|") as a separator:

GHS signal word

In addition to the GHS labelling, the GHSSIGNAL is required. Enter GHSSIGNAL in the FNAME field and the corresponding value (A or G) in the FVALUE field. If you haven‘t worked with article features before, use the fields FNAME2 and FVALUE2:

Hazard statements

Please also use the columns FNAME and FVALUE for specifying the hazard statements (H-statements). If you haven‘t worked with article features before, use the fields FNAME3 and FVALUE3:

Multiple labelling is possible, using the pipe character ("|") as a separator:

The following example shows the complete GHS labelling for several products in the ‘products file’: