• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.42-50
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• 2013

With the rapid change of industry and the development of science and technology, more than 100,000 industrial chemicals are being used and 2,000 new materials are developed every year. Chemical products have had favorable influence on our daily life and contributed very much to the prosper of human culture. But some materials are inherently poisonous and dangerous. Korea ranks as the number 7 in world's chemical products market and the chemical sector is contributing to the economic revival through importing and exporting of the products. With the increasing domestic as well as international interests about REACH and GHS, the need for the effective and efficient chemical material management system is getting bigger and bigger. In this research, we compare the criteria in UN GHS and Safety Control of Dangerous Substances Act of Korea for the development of global standard test methods and the classification and labelling for the chemicals, and suggest an advancement plan for the introduction of the GHS in a building block approach. In addition, providing the harmonized information about chemical hazards is suggested for the elimination of international trade barriers for chemical industries.