Provenance

Reference data from EU CLP Annex VI and published regulations — verify against your supplier's SDS before use.

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Prevention · precautionary statement

P261 — Avoid breathing dust, fume, gas, mist, vapours or spray.

Prevention statements describe how to keep the harm from happening at all. 1,053 substances with a harmonised EU classification carry this code.

EU CLP: currentUS OSHA HazCom: currentUS HazCom 2012: currentUN GHS: current

01 · Wording

What P261 says

Official

Avoid breathing dust/fume/gas/mist/vapours/spray.

Typical

Avoid breathing dust, fume, gas, mist, vapours or spray. How it usually reads on a label. We show it separately rather than presenting a filled-in blank as the regulation's own text.

Category

Prevention · GHS revision 9

Does your label need P261? 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

P261 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.

LanguageOfficial wording of P261
BG български Bulgarian Избягвайте вдишване на прах/пушек/газ/дим/изпарения/аерозоли
ES español Spanish Evitar respirar el polvo/el humo/el gas/la niebla/los vapores/el aerosol.
CS čeština Czech Zamezte vdechování prachu/dýmu/plynu/mlhy/par/aerosolů.
DA dansk Danish Undgå indånding af pulver/røg/gas/tåge/damp/spray.
DE Deutsch German Einatmen von Staub/Rauch/Gas/Nebel/Dampf/Aerosol vermeiden.
ET eesti Estonian Vältida tolmu/suitsu/gaasi/udu/auru/pihustatud aine sissehingamist.
EL ελληνικά Greek Aποφεύγετε να αναπνέετε σκόνη/αναθυμιάσεις/αέρια/σταγονίδια/ατμούς/εκνεφώματα.
EN English English Avoid breathing dust/fume/gas/mist/vapours/spray.
FR français French Éviter de respirer les poussières/fumées/gaz/brouillards/vapeurs/aérosols.
GA Gaeilge Irish Seachain deannach/múch/gás/ceo/gala/sprae a análú.
HR hrvatski Croatian Izbjegavati udisanje prašine/dima/plina/magle/pare/aerosola.
IT italiano Italian Evitare di respirare la polvere/i fumi/i gas/la nebbia/i vapori/gli aerosol.
LV latviešu Latvian Izvairīties ieelpot putekļus/tvaikus/gāzi/dūmus/izgarojumus/smidzinājumu.
LT lietuvių Lithuanian Stengtis neįkvėpti dulkių/dūmų/dujų/rūko/garų/aerozolio.
HU magyar Hungarian Kerülje a por/füst/gáz/köd/gőzök/permet belélegzését.
MT Malti Maltese Evita li tibla' bin-nifs trabijiet/dħaħen/gass/raxx/fwar/sprej.
NL Nederlands Dutch Inademing van stof/rook/gas/nevel/damp/spuitnevel vermijden.
PL polski Polish Unikać wdychania pyłu/dymu/gazu/mgły/par/rozpylonej cieczy.
PT português Portuguese Evitar respirar as poeiras/fumos/gases/névoas/vapores/aerossóis.
RO română Romanian Evitați să inspirați praful/fumul/gazul/ceața/vaporii/spray-ul.
SK slovenčina Slovak Zabráňte vdychovaniu prachu/dymu/plynu/hmly/pár/aerosólov.
SL slovenščina Slovenian Ne vdihavati prahu/dima/plina/meglice/hlapov/razpršila.
FI suomi Finnish Vältä pölyn/savun/kaasun/sumun/höyryn/suihkeen hengittämistä.
SV svenska Swedish Undvik att inandas damm/rök/gaser/dimma/ångor/sprej.

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.

Where P261 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.

JurisdictionBasisStatus of P261
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

Substances carrying P261

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, 134 are group entries 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.

1053 of 1053 shown

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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.

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