UN Postpones the 49th Session of the GHS

UN Postpones the 49^th Session of the GHS

The United Nations has just announced that the 49th session of the GHS Sub-Committee has been postponed.

The GHS Sub-Committee is officially known as the ECOSOC Sub-Committee of Experts on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals. The experts meet to discuss the existing Globally Harmonized System (GHS) and what changes they should make for the future.

The 49th session was originally set to take place on December 3-5, 2025. However, it has been postponed due to the staff shortage resulting from the United Nations liquidity crisis.

Note that it is not cancelled – just rescheduled for next year. All documents and issues planned for discussion will now be taken up at the subsequent session, scheduled for July 8-10, 2026.

For access to the existing provisional agenda, please follow this link to the UNECE: All working and information documents can be found here.

The postponement means crucial technical discussions that would have advanced the GHS standard are now on hold for seven months. Some of the high-impact items on the provisional agenda include:

Proposed revisions to the text on Germ Cell Mutagenicity
Addressing discrepancies in certain flammable liquid classifications
Amendments to the GHS regarding combinations of physical hazards
Justifications for the combinations of self-reactives and organic peroxides with other physical hazard classes
Combinations of self-reactives and organic peroxides type G considering section 20.2.5 o the Manual of tests and Criteria.

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