(70)The application of this Regulation should be staggered to allow all parties involved, authorities, enterprises as well as stakeholders, to focus resources on preparing for new duties at the right times. Therefore, and because the classification of mixtures depends on the classification of substances, the provisions for the classification of mixtures should only be applied after the reclassification of all substances. Operators should be allowed to apply the classification criteria contained in this Regulation earlier on a voluntary basis, but in that case to avoid confusion the labelling and packaging should comply with this Regulation instead of Directives 67/548/EEC or 1999/45/EC.