Norwegian authorities extend annual report deadline

The Norwegian Environmental Agency announced on February 3, 2022, that the duty to declare annual quantities for 2021 is postponed until May 20, 2022. This occurred because the agency is improving...

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OECD opens accession discussion for candidate countries

On January 25, 2022, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) decided to open a discussion to evaluate the membership of Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Peru, and Romania in the...

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Peru Amends Waste Regulation of Electrical and Electronic Equipment

On November 18, 2021, the Ministry of Environment approved complementary provisions to Decree 9/2019, which is the current legislative instrument for the management and handling of Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). Decree 35/2021 brings obligations for lighting...

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UNITAR Promotes OECD Chemical Standards in Latin America

The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) hosted a webinar on November 18, 2021, aimed at promoting awareness on the management of industrial and consumer chemicals in Latin American countries. The webinar is...

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Comprehensive Chemical Management Promulgated in Colombia

After four years of drafting the framework, Colombia finally promulgated a robust chemical management regulation. Decree 1630, published on November 30, 2021, sets the ground for implementing a national chemical inventory.  Decree 1630/2021 targets hazardous substances for industrial...

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Danish finds problematic chemicals in fidget toys

According to the Danish Environmental Protection Agency and Danish Consumer Council THINK Chemicals, specific children’s toys have been discovered to contain some chemicals that are problematic. The Danish Consumer Council THINK...

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 Sweden grants exemption for use of methylene chloride for manufacturing lithium batteries

The Swedish Chemicals Agency grants an exemption for a large amount of methylene chloride, which was banned in Sweden before now. This substance is used in manufacturing a component for lithium...

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Circular Economy and the Disclosure Landscape: an OECD Investigation

Circular Economy has been on the rise, and debates about its adoption, key elements, benchmarks, and range of application are prevailing than ever before. In November 2021, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)...

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Chile Shows How Its Notification System Will Work

In September, Chile reaffirmed commitments with the Latin American Regulatory Cooperation Forum (LARCF), an association promoting dialogue and information exchange, training initiatives, and regulatory cooperation through national chemical associations. At a recent meeting, the Chilean authorities demonstrated ...

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Proposed Global Treaty To Tackle Harmful Substances In Plastics And Promote Circular Economy

Peru and Rwanda wrote a draft resolution on the 2nd of September 2021, to address harmful substances in plastics.   The draft resolution requests that an intergovernmental negotiating committee be established to legally bind the treaty on...

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Peru Turns Registry for Emissions & Pollutants Mandatory

On July 24, Peru’s Ministry of the Environment (MINAM) published Decree 18/2021. By this Decree, Peru creates the Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (RETC by its acronym in Spanish). The new...

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Saudi Arabia - GSO Issues a Draft Technical Regulation on Cosmetics and Personal Care Products

The Gulf Standardization Organization (GSO), on the 7th of July 2021 issued an update to the draft Gulf Technical Regulation No. GSO 2528/2021 "Cosmetic products – Technical Regulation of cosmetic and...

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Global NGO calls for the phase-out of hazardous chemicals used in plastic

A Global NGO network, International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN), based on its research, has found levels of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in almost all the free-range chicken eggs it collected near...

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South Africa progresses to Publish Regulations on Hazardous Chemicals

Through the Ministry of Employment and Labour under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993, on 29 March 2021, the government of South Africa finally published its regulations concerning Hazardous Chemical...

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Philippines To Ban Medical Products Containing Mercury

The Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently had a consultation to examine the draft of Circular to prohibit the use, manufacture, importation/exportation, distribution, sale, and storage of medical products that...

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Malaysia launches MyEHS, a new website for Hazardous Substance Registration

Department of Environment (DOE) recently announced its new website for Environmentally Hazardous Substances (EHS) Registration. The platform is for gathering information on EHS identified and notified by importers and manufacturers to...

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Philippines Updates the Inventory Of Chemicals and Chemical Substances With 52 New Substances

In EMB Memorandum Circular No. 2021-08, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) – Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) issued the 2021 updated Philippine Inventory of Chemicals and Chemical Substances (PICCS)....

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Philippines: EMB AND BOC to Implement Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) in Chemical Mixtures

Philippines-Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) informs the Bureau of Customs (BOC) on the upcoming implementation of GHS in chemical mixtures and seeks their cooperation for enforcement Early February, the director of The...

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Latin America Defines an Action Plan for 2021-2024

At the XXII Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean on 1-2 February 2021, ministries from six countries in Latin America announced the Action Plan...

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Latin America unites to promote national management of chemicals

The Latin American Regulatory Cooperation Forum (LARCF), coordinated with the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA), published the Roadmap for the Rational Management of Industrial Chemical Substances and Products in late...

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Mercosur intends to harmonize GHS implementation

In a meeting held in May 19-20, 2021 (SGT 6), the Mercosur Environment Working Subgroup recommended advancing the regulatory framework within the bloc. The proposal includes the adoption of an updated...

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Colombia’s Labor Ministry the first sector to implement GHS

Colombia incorporated GHS guidelines in 2018 based on the Decreto 1.496/2018. The regulation provides guidance for ministries to implement the standard in each sector. In 2021, the Ministry of Labor is the first...

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Chile leads the way on chemical safety in Latin America: Decree published

On February 9, 2021, Chile approved its rules for the classification, labeling, and notification of dangerous chemical substances and mixtures (Decree 57) in the official gazette. The Decree 57 was promulgated in November 2019...

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Israel REACH Regulation expecting to be approved by end of 2021

    When Israel joined the OECD in 2010, the country planned to establish a national mechanism for registering chemicals. There are various regulations in Israel that regulate the practice of...

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Colombia's chemical legislation might be right around the corner

In 2020 Colombia became the third Latin American country to join the OECD. As a membership requirement, the country has to develop a chemicals management system, including chemical regulation. The chemical...

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4) Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme (AICIS)

To support the introducers under current Australian chemical regulation (AICIS), authorities have rolled out minor improvements in categorization along with adding few chemicals in the inventory (The Australian Inventory of Chemical...

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5) Thailand: Thailand published the first Existing Chemical Inventory

To support the introducers under current Australian chemical regulation (AICIS), authorities have rolled out minor improvements in categorization along with adding few chemicals in the inventory (The Australian Inventory of Chemical...

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3) Are you ready to submit to SCIP Database?

The Substances of Concern In articles as such or complex objects (Products) also known as the SCIP database is a new requirement under the Waste Framework Directive. Companies that supplying articles...

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2) Turkey REACH: Pre-registered substance count exceeds 18,000 as the deadline approaches!

While there are less than 160 days left for the first phase for Turkey’s REACH regulation to conclude, more than 18,000 substances were pre-registered already by the first half of 2020,...

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1) South Korea: 332 substances require prompt CICO establishment

A South Korean industry support group published a list of 332 substances that require prompt CICO (Chemical Substance Information Communicative Organization) establishment. These substances are the cases where pre-registrants of a...

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Upcoming Event

11th – 12th November, 2020 | Koelnmesse, Germany. Chemspec Europe, which is Europe’s major sourcing and networking event for fine and speciality chemicals industry, is scheduled to be held at Cologne,...

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Get Ready to Prepare your Poison Centre Notifications

ECHA has announced new obligations for the mixtures being placed into the EU market. For every mixture placed on the market, a new notification i.e., Poison Centre Notification (PCN) will be...

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EU Member States report illegal and ineffective disinfectants

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, European states are encouraged to apply derogations to the normal product authorisation requirements of the Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR) (‘health emergency permits’) to increase...

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Russia published a "transitional" inventory on notified chemical substances.

Russia is the only country of the Eurasian Economic Union that is in the process of a national inventory formation. Since 2019, Russia has opened its inventory for notification of chemical...

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Brexit and UK REACH Regulation: Latest Updates

With Brexit having been implemented from 31st January 2020, the UK has formally left the EU with a withdrawal deal and it is currently into an 11-month transition period. The UK...

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