What is IMDS? The automotive material data system explained
IMDS is the International Material Data System, where automotive suppliers report materials and substances in vehicle parts through Material Data Sheets.
What is IMDS?
IMDS is the International Material Data System, the automotive industry's database of materials and substances in vehicle parts. Suppliers provide Material Data Sheets (MDSs) for customer and regulatory reporting (Reading for New Users).
The official IMDS portal describes collecting, maintaining, analysing and archiving materials used in finished automotive manufacture. The portal says the IMDS system supports legal, standards and regulatory obligations, but it doesn't certify that a part is compliant. DXC Technology developed and hosts the basic system, according to the portal's New to IMDS page.
What an IMDS material data sheet covers
An MDS in the IMDS database describes what a supplied part or material is made of. IMDS reporting covers the substances that remain in the vehicle as sold, not every chemical used during processing, as the portal's Reading for New Users guidance explains.
The same page puts responsibility for data quality on both the creator and the receiver of a sheet. Automated checks in the system don't replace a person looking into the data. A sheet with no warnings is still not proof of legal compliance.
The system also flags substances of very high concern (SVHCs) under REACH. When a newly listed substance was previously hidden inside a sheet by a wildcard or a confidentiality setting, IMDS addresses how suppliers update those sheets (REACH SVHC page).
Who has to submit IMDS data?
No single law says every supplier must use IMDS. Where a submission is required, it comes from the customer. The IMDS Steering Committee publishes recommendations, and many companies treat them as requirements (Reading for New Users). Carmakers also set their own rules, and the portal warns that an OEM may have sent its suppliers newer instructions than the public OEM Specific Info page shows.
Ask your direct customer. Its current instructions are what decide whether you need an MDS, and whether that MDS is part of a PPAP package. Sending a sheet, passing an automated check, recipient acceptance, and PPAP approval are separate steps. None of them proves legal compliance by itself.
IMDS and GADSL
GADSL is the Global Automotive Declarable Substance List. Like IMDS, it targets substances expected to remain in a vehicle part or material at the point of sale. The IMDS GADSL page sorts listed substances into three classes:
| Class | Meaning |
|---|---|
| D | Declarable above the reporting threshold, not prohibited |
| D/P | Prohibited in some applications, declarable in others |
| P | Prohibited in all applications |
The thresholds are reporting thresholds. They're not limits on how much of a substance a product may legally contain. A listed substance isn't automatically banned, and GADSL doesn't override contracts between suppliers and OEMs. For a legal limit, read the regulation that sets it, including its scope and exemptions.
IMDS and REACH
REACH sets its own duties, and neither Article 31 nor Article 33 names IMDS as the required platform. Under Article 33(1) of REACH, a supplier of an article containing a Candidate List substance above 0.1% weight by weight must give the recipient enough information for safe use. At minimum, that's the name of the substance.
An MDS is also different from a safety data sheet. Article 31 of REACH governs SDSs for substances and mixtures under specified conditions.
RegAffairs AI's answer on IMDS covers what the system is, who submits an MDS and how that relates to REACH.