Safety Data Sheet Translation: Hungarian and English Guide
If you sell or use chemicals in the US, your safety data sheet (SDS) must be in English. If the same product goes to Hungary, it must be supplied in Hungarian. That is why most Hungarian-English SDS translation requests come from two groups: US companies exporting to Hungary and the EU, and Hungarian manufacturers bringing products to the American market. This guide explains what each side requires, what a translator has to handle in the 16 sections, and how to brief and check the work.
TL;DR
For use in the United States, an SDS must be in English. Employers may also keep copies in other languages, such as Hungarian, for their workers (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1200).
For products placed on the Hungarian market, REACH requires the SDS in an official language of that Member State, which means Hungarian (EUR-Lex, REACH).
Hazard class and category codes stay untranslated. Hazard statements, precautionary statements and section headings must follow the official wording.
Send the editable source file, the label text and any annexes. Consistency between SDS and label is part of a proper check.
Choose a translator with chemical, regulatory and CAT-tool experience, and agree on confidentiality before you send the file.
Table of Contents
Who needs an SDS translation, and when
An SDS is a legal document that travels with a product. Translation is needed when the product, or the people handling it, cross a language border. Typical cases between Hungarian and English:
A US importer receives Hungarian-language SDSs from a Hungarian or EU supplier and needs a compliant English version.
A US manufacturer ships to Hungary or sells through an EU distributor and needs a Hungarian SDS for the Hungarian market.
A US plant employs Hungarian-speaking workers and wants an additional Hungarian copy for safety training and emergency use.
A Hungarian subsidiary of a multinational needs local-language SDSs that match the parent company’s English master document.
The four cases do not carry the same legal weight. In the first two the translation is a compliance requirement. In the third it is good practice that OSHA explicitly permits. In the fourth it is usually driven by the EU duty to supply the sheet in the local language.
What US OSHA requires
Under the Hazard Communication Standard, the SDS prepared by the chemical manufacturer or importer must be in English, though employers may maintain copies in other languages as well. Employers must also keep the SDS readily accessible to employees during each work shift.
This has a practical consequence. A Hungarian-language SDS alone does not satisfy a US workplace. If you import a product with a Hungarian sheet, you need an English one before it is used. If you hold a Hungarian copy for workers, it supplements the English sheet and does not replace it.
A few other OSHA points affect how the translation is done:
Required content. Appendix D specifies the information in sections 1 to 11 and 16. Sections 12 to 15 may be included but are not mandatory under OSHA.
Empty subheadings. If no relevant information exists for a subheading, the SDS must say so clearly. A translator should translate that statement, not delete the line.
Headings in order. OSHA does not enforce the content of sections 12 to 15, but the SDS must still include their headings for consistency with GHS. Keep them when translating.
Emergency access. OSHA’s compliance guide says workers and medical personnel must be able to get SDS information immediately in an emergency. Electronic access works only if it creates no barriers and a backup exists.
If a US employer is missing an SDS, OSHA advises contacting the manufacturer to get one. Translation does not replace that step: it is not the translator’s job to author or reclassify a sheet.
What Hungary and the EU require
Hungary is an EU Member State, so SDS rules come from REACH (Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006) and CLP. Under REACH, the SDS must be supplied in an official language of the Member State where the substance or mixture is placed on the market, unless that state provides otherwise. For Hungary, that is Hungarian.
ECHA’s SDS guidance adds details that matter for anyone commissioning a translation:
Simply posting an SDS on a website is not enough. It must be actively supplied to the recipient.
Where required, relevant exposure scenarios belong in an annex to the SDS. The annex is part of the document, so it needs translating too.
Hazard class and category codes must not be translated when used in the SDS.
Consistency between the SDS, the label and the REACH registration dossier is recommended as part of a completeness check.
The EU format has 16 sections, and all of them are expected. A US-style sheet that stops at what OSHA enforces may therefore need more content before it can be sold in Hungary. That is an authoring and regulatory question for your compliance team, and a translator should flag the gap rather than fill it in.
United States (OSHA HCS) | Hungary (EU REACH) | |
Language of the SDS | English | Official language of the Member State: Hungarian |
Additional languages | Allowed for employers | Allowed |
Sections required | 1 to 11 and 16 | All 16 sections expected |
Sections 12 to 15 | Headings required, content not enforced | Content expected |
Exposure scenarios | Not applicable | Annex where required |
What a translator must handle in an SDS
OSHA describes the SDS as the document that communicates a chemical’s properties, its physical, health and environmental hazards, protective measures, and precautions for handling, storage and transport (OSHA brief). Sections 1 to 8 are meant for quick access in an emergency. Sections 9 to 11 and 16 carry the technical and scientific detail, such as physical and chemical properties, stability, toxicology, exposure controls and revision history.
That split shows where the translation risk sits.
Standardized phrases
Hazard statements (H-statements) and precautionary statements (P-statements) have official wording in each EU language. A translator should reuse the official Hungarian text, not paraphrase it. The same applies in reverse: when going from Hungarian to English, use the standard English phrases instead of a literal rendering.
Codes that stay as they are
Hazard class and category codes (for example, the class and category abbreviations used in the classification) are not translated. CAS numbers, EC numbers, H and P codes, and UN numbers are also copied exactly. A good workflow checks them against the source after translation.
Numbers, units and formats
Hungarian uses a decimal comma and spaces as thousands separators. American English uses a decimal point and commas. A concentration of “0,5 %” must become “0.5%” in a US sheet, and the reverse for Hungary. Temperatures, pressures and exposure limits also need a unit check. Where an exposure limit is a legal value, convert only if the source or authority gives the converted figure. Otherwise keep the original and note the unit.
Terminology that looks easy and is not
Words such as “irritant”, “corrosive”, “sensitizer”, “flash point” or “LD50” have fixed counterparts. A near-synonym can change the meaning of a hazard. Terms in sections 9 to 11, such as toxicological endpoints and test methods, need a translator who has handled this vocabulary before.
Source quality
NOAA’s CAMEO Chemicals guidance warns that SDSs can contain vague language, errors and missing information, and that sheets from different manufacturers for the same chemical can differ or conflict. A translator should not silently fix those problems. The right move is to translate faithfully and query the obvious ones with you, so the source owner can correct and reissue the sheet.
How to brief an SDS translation
A clear brief saves a round of questions and keeps the deadline realistic.
Send the editable file. Word, InDesign or the export from your SDS authoring software is better than a locked PDF. It keeps layout and tables intact.
State the direction and the market. Hungarian into English for the US, or English into Hungarian for Hungary. Say which regulation applies.
Attach the label text. The SDS and label must agree, so the translator can match wording.
Include annexes. Exposure scenarios and any extra appendices are part of the sheet.
Share previous translations. If you already have an approved Hungarian or English version of an earlier revision, a CAT tool can reuse it. Unchanged sentences stay consistent, and you pay only for what is new where the translator’s terms allow that.
Name a contact. Someone in regulatory affairs or EHS should be able to answer terminology queries.
Flag confidentiality. Formulation details in section 3 can be commercially sensitive. Agree how the files are stored, shared and deleted.
How to check a translated SDS
Before you issue the translation, run it through a short checklist:
All 16 sections are present, in the correct order, with the standard headings.
H and P statements match the official wording in the target language.
Codes, CAS and EC numbers and UN numbers are identical to the source.
Numbers, decimals and units follow the target market’s format.
The classification and signal word match the label.
Revision date and version number are correct and consistent.
Phone numbers, supplier names and addresses are accurate. For emergency numbers, confirm that the number works for the market where the product is used.
A second person who reads the target text without the source often catches odd phrasing. A subject specialist should review sections 9 to 11 if the product is a complex mixture.
Machine translation and SDSs
SDS text is repetitive and heavily structured, so machine translation can produce a usable first draft. The risk is in the details: a wrong qualifier on a hazard, a misplaced decimal, a translated code. Post-editing by a subject expert is how that risk is controlled. Light post-editing fixes obvious errors for internal reference. Full post-editing brings the text to publication quality, which is the level an SDS that will be issued to customers needs. If the sheet carries legal weight, treat it as a full human translation task with a specialist reviewing the result.
Confidentiality, speed and accuracy
Three things decide whether a translation partner suits SDS work.
Accuracy comes from chemical and regulatory knowledge, a controlled glossary and a quality assurance pass using CAT tool checks. These checks catch number mismatches, missing segments and inconsistent terms.
Confidentiality matters because an SDS can expose composition ranges and supplier relationships. Fewer hands on a file means fewer exposure points. Ask who will see your documents and how they are stored.
Speed matters because a shipment can wait on a sheet. Ask for a realistic deadline instead of the shortest one, and confirm whether the translator can respond outside normal office hours when a launch is time-critical. A revision of an existing sheet is usually much faster than a first translation because most of the text is reused.
In our experience, SDS translation goes wrong in small places, not large ones. A translated code, a comma where a point belongs, a hazard statement reworded because it “sounded more natural”. The language is the easy part. The hard part is knowing which parts of the document must not sound natural at all. That is why we work the way we do. One experienced translator handles the whole document, so terminology in section 2 matches section 11 and the label. We use up-to-date CAT tools and quality assurance checks, which lets us handle high-volume sets of sheets while keeping numbers, codes and standard phrases aligned across the whole set. We translate between Hungarian and English, and also German and French into Hungarian, across technical, medical, legal and automotive content. Chemical documents sit where those fields meet. We treat your files as confidential, give deadlines you can rely on, and are often reachable after normal hours when something urgent comes up. When a source sheet looks wrong, we tell you before we translate around it. A faithful translation of a faulty document only spreads the fault into a second language. Bernadett
Our perspective
Pricing and getting a quote
SDS translation is normally priced per word, with repeated and previously translated text handled through the CAT tool. Our published rates start at €0.05 per word for translation into Hungarian and €0.07 per word for translation into English, German or French. Full post-editing of machine translation starts at €0.04 per word and light post-editing at €0.03 per word. The final price depends on the document, the subject and the deadline.
If you manage a set of sheets, send the whole batch with the label text and any earlier translations. That allows an accurate quote and the most reuse.
Need a Hungarian or English SDS translated by a specialist who knows the terminology? Send us your documents at Wordsbyme for a quote on translation or post-editing.
We work directly with businesses and professionals, and we handle files under strict confidentiality.
Common mistakes to avoid
Treating a Hungarian-only sheet as enough in the US. OSHA requires English for the SDS itself.
Posting the EU sheet online and calling it supplied. ECHA says it has to be actively provided to the recipient.
Translating hazard codes. Class and category codes stay as they are.
Translating from an outdated revision. Always confirm the version and date before you send the file.
Skipping the label. A mismatch between SDS and label is a compliance problem, not a style problem.
Dropping empty subheadings. The sheet must state clearly that no information is available.
FAQ
Does a safety data sheet have to be in English in the US?
Yes. Under OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard, the SDS from the manufacturer or importer must be in English. Employers may keep additional copies in other languages, such as Hungarian, for workers who read them more easily.
Do I need a Hungarian SDS to sell a chemical product in Hungary?
Under REACH, the SDS must be supplied in an official language of the Member State where the product is placed on the market, unless the state provides otherwise. For Hungary that means Hungarian. Check the current national rules with your regulatory team or the competent authority.
Which parts of an SDS should never be translated?
Hazard class and category codes must stay as they are, according to ECHA guidance. Keep CAS numbers, EC numbers, UN numbers and H and P codes identical to the source too. The statements those codes refer to use official wording in each language.
Can machine translation be used for SDSs?
It can produce a draft, but a subject expert must post-edit it before the sheet is issued. Errors in numbers, qualifiers or standard phrases can change a hazard’s meaning, so a full review of every section is the safe route.
What should I send with an SDS for translation?
Send the editable file, the matching label text, any annexes such as exposure scenarios, and earlier approved translations. Name a contact who can answer terminology questions. Agree on confidentiality before sending sensitive formulations.
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