Overview#
UNECE is the UN Economic Commission for Europe, one of the regional commissions of the United Nations. It brings countries together on trade, transport and the environment, and it carries some work that reaches well beyond Europe.
Two strands matter for chemicals. UNECE hosts the convention on long-range air pollution and its Aarhus Protocol on persistent organic pollutants, and it develops the Globally Harmonised System for classifying and labelling chemicals.
Why it matters for products#
The GHS is the reason hazard labels look similar around the world. UNECE keeps the system, and the EU writes it into the CLP Regulation, so the pictograms and hazard statements you put on a product trace back to UNECE work. Its Aarhus Protocol feeds into the same family of persistent organic pollutant controls that reach products through EU law.