Who is responsible for the safety data sheet?

The answer is written in the guidelines for preparing safety data sheets (SDS):  

“In any case, suppliers of the substance or mixture requiring a safety data sheet are responsible for its content, even if they did not prepare it themselves.” 

A seemingly simple definition that reveals its pitfalls when we look at specific examples.  

Before we dive into this, let's clarify who the supplier is.  

Simply put, a supplier is anyone in the supply chain. Thus, your supplier is responsible to you. You, in turn, are responsible to those to whom you supply the substance or mixture. The one who supplies the substance or mixture is therefore responsible for the content of the SDS.  

This means they are responsible even if they did not prepare or create the SDS themselves (for example, a direct translation from the original). The basic principle is that when you pass on the SDS, you are responsible for what is written in it.  

Therefore, you must know (or find out) what you are handing over. In this regard, I regularly encounter two types of cases. 

Firstly, with the help of modern technologies, you make a literal translation of the original safety data sheet provided by your supplier. You completely trust your supplier. You were careful with the translation and did it to the best of your ability. Therefore, you believe that such an SDS is appropriate. 

Secondly, acknowledging that you did indeed translate the SDS yourself, but the content is the responsibility of your supplier. A typical statement for this case is “I just translated the data that was already in the original document.” 

In both cases, responsibility is shifted to your supplier. But does this absolve you of responsibility? 

The simple answer is “no,” because the law requires you to know what you have passed on. This also means you must understand and be able to defend the content of the SDS. 

This part, concerning responsibility, is stated in another part of the guidelines, which says:  

“In such cases, the data provided by their suppliers is undoubtedly a useful and appropriate source of information for compiling their own safety data sheets.” 

The key part that is most often overlooked is that the safety data sheet you receive from your supplier is merely a useful and appropriate source of information. Nothing more.  

So if you have merely translated the SDS, you are still responsible for its content.  

The major risk is that by translating, you may have inadvertently included errors that might exist in the original SDS. These are most often:  

Essentially, every SDS should be content-checked – reviewed and clarified if necessary up the chain – before you hand it over. This is because the content in the original SDS is merely a source of information. Your duty is to verify it.  

If an error is discovered, it must be corrected. Only then can you ensure that you have done everything required by law. 

If you need assistance or are chronically short on time for such tasks, the ChemiusExpert service is something worth considering.  

With the ChemiusExpert service, it’s not just about literal translation of data from safety data sheets, but also about a content review for compliance with chemical legislation.