Prevention · precautionary statement
P231 — Handle and store contents under inert gas.
Prevention statements describe how to keep the harm from happening at all. 8 substances with a harmonised EU classification carry this code.
01 · Wording
What P231 says
Handle and store contents under inert gas/… The wording is incomplete on purpose. The inert gas to use, most often nitrogen or argon.
Handle and store contents under inert gas. How it usually reads on a label. We show it separately rather than presenting a filled-in blank as the regulation's own text.
Prevention · GHS revision 9
Reading the official wording. … is a blank the supplier fills in — not a truncated sentence.· [square brackets] mark a part printed only when it applies. · A slash offers a choice, as in POISON CENTER/doctor.
Does your label need P231? That depends on the hazard classes of your product, on whether it goes to the public or to professionals, and on what else is already on the label — Annex IV column 5 lets one statement remove another. Work it out from a classification →
02 · Languages
P231 in the 24 official EU languages
A label put on the market in an EU country must carry the wording of that country's own language version of CLP — not a translation of the English one. These 24 lines are quoted from the consolidated regulation, Annex IV, and are the text to print.
| Language | Official wording of P231 |
|---|---|
| BG български Bulgarian | Да се използва и съхранява съдържанието под инертен газ/… |
| ES español Spanish | Manipular y almacenar el contenido en un medio de gas inerte /… |
| CS čeština Czech | Manipulace a skladování pod inertním plynem /… |
| DA dansk Danish | Håndteres og opbevares under inert gas/… |
| DE Deutsch German | Inhalt unter inertem Gas/… handhaben und aufbewahren. |
| ET eesti Estonian | Sisu käidelda ja hoida inertgaasis/… |
| EL ελληνικά Greek | Ο χειρισμός και η αποθήκευση του υλικού να γίνεται υπό αδρανές αέριο/ … |
| EN English English | Handle and store contents under inert gas/… |
| FR français French | Manipuler et stocker le contenu sous gaz inerte/… |
| GA Gaeilge Irish | Láimhsigh agus stóráil an t-ábhar faoi thriathghás/… |
| HR hrvatski Croatian | Rukovati i skladištiti u inertnom plinu /… |
| IT italiano Italian | Manipolare e conservare in atmosfera di gas inerte/… |
| LV latviešu Latvian | Saturu izmantot un glabāt tikai inertas gāzes vidē/… |
| LT lietuvių Lithuanian | Turinį tvarkyti ir laikyti inertinėse dujose/… |
| HU magyar Hungarian | Tartalma inert gázban /… használandó és tárolandó. |
| MT Malti Maltese | Uża u aħżen il-kontenut taħt gass inerti /… |
| NL Nederlands Dutch | Inhoud onder inert gas/… gebruiken en bewaren. |
| PL polski Polish | Używać i przechowywać zawartość w atmosferze obojętnego gazu /… |
| PT português Portuguese | Manusear e armazenar o conteúdo em atmosfera de gás inerte/… |
| RO română Romanian | A se manipula și a se depozita conținutul sub un gaz inert/… |
| SK slovenčina Slovak | Manipulujte s obsahom a skladujte ho v prostredí s inertným plynom/… |
| SL slovenščina Slovenian | Ravnati z vsebino in jo hraniti v inertnem plinu/… |
| FI suomi Finnish | Käsittele ja varastoi sisältö inertissä kaasussa/… |
| SV svenska Swedish | Hantera och förvara innehållet under inert gas/… |
Source: CELEX:02008R1272-20260501, Annex IV. © European Union, https://eur-lex.europa.eu — only the electronic Official Journal of the European Union is authentic. Irish is one of the 24 official languages and its H and P texts are printed inside the multilingual Annex tables, but no consolidated CLP has ever been published in Irish — which is why an Irish-primary label cannot be built here.
03 · Legal status
Where P231 is current
GHS is a United Nations model text, revised every two years, and each jurisdiction adopts a revision on its own timetable. A code can be legally current in one system and deleted in another — that is normal, not an error.
| Jurisdiction | Basis | Status of P231 |
|---|---|---|
| EU CLP | Regulation (EC) 1272/2008 CLP Annex IV, Part 2 (consolidated) | Current |
| US OSHA HazCom | 29 CFR 1910.1200 Appendix C UN GHS Rev.7 (final rule of 20 May 2024) | Current |
| US HazCom 2012 | legacy · GHS Rev.3 UN GHS Rev.3, Annex 3 | Current |
| UN GHS | Rev.11 (2025) UN GHS Rev.11, Annex 3 | Current |
Currently in force under: EU CLP, US OSHA HazCom, US HazCom 2012, UN GHS. Sources: EU CLP · US OSHA HazCom · US HazCom 2012 · UN GHS
04 · On a label
P231 usually appears combined
CLP Annex IV defines combined statements as single label elements. P231 is a component of one of them — this is how you will actually see it printed.
| Code | Combined statement |
|---|---|
| P231+P232 | Handle and store contents under inert gas. Protect from moisture. CLP verbatim: Handle and store contents under inert gas/… Protect from moisture. |
05 · Substances
Substances carrying P231
Every entry whose harmonised CLP Annex VI classification includes this precautionary statement. Substances with a reference page here open on this site; the rest open on ghssymbols.com. Of these, 1 is a group entry such as “beryllium compounds” or “salts of hydrazine” — Annex VI gives them no CAS number, so they are listed by Index No and have no page of their own.
- aluminium powder (pyrophoric) CAS 7429-90-5
- Calcium CAS 7440-70-2
- calcium carbide CAS 75-20-7
- Calcium hydride CAS 7789-78-8
- magnesium powder (pyrophoric) CAS 7439-95-4
- magnesium, powder or turnings Index No 012-002-00-9
- Sodium hydride CAS 7646-69-7
- zirconium powder (pyrophoric) CAS 7440-67-7
Nothing matches that filter.
All precautionary statements
The full list of P-codes with the jurisdiction switch lives on the precautionary statements hub. For the hazard side, see hazard statements (H-codes).
Wording quoted from the regulation named above. Substance counts come from harmonised classifications in CLP Annex VI — the statements on a real product also depend on the supplier's own classification. Always check the supplier safety data sheet.