Labelling Guide

The following guidelines have been created from typical formulae for products falling within the appropriate generic type. These guidelines have been created as a service to the Industry through consultation and cooperation amongst technically qualified and experienced employees of the leading companies in the Surface Coatings Industry in New Zealand.

The guidelines are consensus interpretations of the requirements of the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 as distilled from the Act and various documents interpreting and supporting this Act, published primarily by the Environmental Protection Authority of New Zealand (http://www.epa.govt.nz/) and the New Zealand Chemical Industries Council (http://www.nzcic.org.nz/).

As formulae are proprietary and may contain ingredients, other than those contained in our typical formulae, with their own associated hazards it is important that any manufacturer, distributer or retailer of any hazardous substance ensures that their product is appropriately labelled so as to comply with the requirements of the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996. NZPMA cannot be held responsible for any consequences that may arise from the reliance on these guidelines by any user.

The public section of this website only shows the portion of the hazardous labelling that must be prominently displayed on the front of the label. The full label, including the hazard and precautionary information statements that are required to be displayed on the label, and which can be placed on the back or side panels of the label, are available in the members only section of the website. In addition the members only section contains the HSNO approval number and HSNO hazard classifications assigned to the guide formulations from which the labelling requirements were determined.

Environmental pictograms are only required on the container for container sizes greater than 5L, whilst the other pictograms are required for all sizes of container

The transport pictogram must appear on any container or outer of any size that is likely to be commercially transported, and must comply with the requirements of NZS5433:2020 for land transport or IMDG/IATA regulations for other modes of transport

A Transport pictogram can be used on a label in the workplace instead of a GHS pictogram but the reverse cannot apply.

Graphic files of both Transport and GHS pictograms suitable for publishing and printing can be downloaded free of charge from http://www.unece.org/trans/danger/publi/ghs/pictograms.html