Panama has implemented mandatory chemical hazard classification and communication standards through the Globally Harmonized System for all hazardous chemicals, requiring compliance with label and safety data sheet requirements.<\/p>\n
Panama has adopted mandatory chemical hazard classification and labelling rules under the United Nations\u2019 Globally Harmonized System (GHS), requiring all hazardous chemicals sold or used in the country to carry standardised safety data sheets and warning labels by 18 August 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The measure covers every chemical imported, manufactured or handled in Panama\u2014from industrial solvents and fertilisers to household cleaners\u2014except finished medicines, cosmetics and food additives. Importers and manufacturers must now classify each substance, prepare a safety data sheet<\/strong> in Spanish, and redesign labels with GHS pictograms, signal words and hazard statements. The delivered cost of compliance will fall on the company that first places the product on the Panamanian market.<\/p>\n It comes after a two-year joint project between Panama\u2019s health and trade ministries, the University of Panama and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), funded through the Stockholm and Basel conventions. The new rules replace a patchwork of national and Central American technical regulations that often placed the same chemical in multiple, conflicting categories.<\/p>\n The GHS is the UN\u2019s \u201cPurple Book\u201d\u2014a 600-page manual that classifies chemicals by physical, health and environmental hazards and prescribes how those hazards must be communicated. Panama is implementing the seventh revised edition, published in 20171<\/a><\/sup>. Under it, a flammable liquid is labelled with a flame pictogram, the signal word \u201cDanger\u201d and the statement \u201cHighly flammable liquid and vapour\u201d; a corrosive substance carries a corrosion pictogram, the word \u201cWarning\u201d and the phrase \u201cCauses severe skin burns and eye damage\u201d2<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n The system covers 28 hazard classes\u201416 physical, 10 health and 2 environmental\u2014and assigns each a category from 1 (most severe) to 5 (least severe). A single chemical can carry multiple classifications: methanol, for example, is both flammable (Category 2) and acutely toxic if swallowed (Category 3)2<\/a><\/sup>. Every classification must be backed by test data or internationally recognised literature and documented in the safety data sheet.<\/p>\n Panama\u2019s technical regulation, DGNTI XX-2026, defines a \u201csubstance\u201d as any chemical element or compound in its natural state or obtained by any process, including stabilisers and impurities but excluding solvents that can be separated without altering the product2<\/a><\/sup>. The definition sweeps in raw materials, intermediates, formulated products and even some waste streams, although hazardous waste itself is excluded1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n By 18 August 2026, every hazardous chemical entering or produced in Panama must be reclassified, relabelled and accompanied by a safety data sheet that meets GHS format and content requirements1<\/a><\/sup>. The sheet must be in Spanish, dated, and include 16 sections: identification, hazard classification, composition, first-aid measures, firefighting measures, accidental-release measures, handling and storage, exposure controls and personal protection, physical and chemical properties, stability and reactivity, toxicological information, ecological information, disposal considerations, transport information, regulatory information and any other relevant data2<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\nThe system Panama is adopting<\/h2>\n
GHS hazard classes by type<\/h4>\n
What importers and manufacturers must do<\/h2>\n
How GHS labels two hazards<\/h4>\n