What this tab covers How it is regulated and what could disrupt supply: hazard classification, rules in the EU, US and India, anti-dumping duties and other trade measures, and supply-risk notes.
Toxic at low concentrations; a ruptured tanker can cause mass casualties (Graniteville, US, 2005). Used as a weapon in the First World War.
Main rules
Where
Rule
Effect
EU
REACH; Seveso III; Industrial Emissions Directive with chlor-alkali BAT conclusions (mercury cells banned from Dec 2017); EU ETS
drove membrane conversion and adds carbon cost through power prices
US
EPA TSCA asbestos rule (2024): most diaphragm plants to switch by 2029, all by 2036; OSHA PSM; DHS CFATS
closures or conversions of remaining diaphragm capacity
Global
Minamata Convention on Mercury
phase-out of mercury cells
India
Rule
Effect
Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical (MSIHC) Rules 1989; Static and Mobile Pressure Vessels Rules (PESO)
licensing for storage and tonner filling
BIS standard IS 646 for liquid chlorine
sets purity for water treatment grades
CPCB charter for chlor-alkali; mercury cells phased out
all Indian capacity is membrane
Trade measures
EU anti-dumping duty of 58.0% and UK 56.01% on US PVC (Westlake 10-K), which shifts chlorine value chains
India countervailing-duty probe on Chinese PVC (Feb 2026)
Supply risk
Supply is local and diversified, but tied to power availability. Europe's losses of capacity raise import dependence for chlorine derivatives. Chlorine is not on critical raw material lists; salt is abundant.