Companies who manufacture in Europe or ship into Europe are already familiar with and are busy complying with EU REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical Substances - Regulation 1906/2006) but you may not know that other countries such as Taiwan, Russia, Turkey, Brazil and Australia are also in the process of implementing similar legislation in their own countries. The US is also engaged in expanded forms of ‘chemical control’. Join us for a series of one hour webinars on this topic. Select one or all to attend. Learn why ‘It’s not just REACH anymore’.

The webinars will start at 9am EST on the following scheduled dates. Register to attend one or all 6 webinars.

September 8, 2010 – Taiwan
September 22, 2010 – Russia
October 13, 2010 – Turkey
October 20, 2010 – Australia
November 3, 2010 – US
November 17, 2010 – Brazil

Since 2007, Taiwan has actively been involved in the studies between the United Nation Strategic Approach to International Chemical Management (SAICM) and the chemical management in Taiwan. To minimize the gap between both, several regulatory reforms have been initiated.

On December 31, 2008, the Taiwan Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) of the Executive Yuan announced the first phase regulating hazardous and harmful substances. This was implemented under the Rules on Labeling and Hazard Communication of Hazardous and Harmful Substances to promote safety in workplace. To further enhance chemical management, Taiwan is developing the second phase of its regulation of hazardous and harmful substances. This second phasegives rise to Taiwan’s plan of establishing a national chemical inventory. The Existing Chemical Substance Nomination (ECN) and New Chemical Substance Notification (NCN) programs have been introduced to industries since 2009.

In this webinar, we will discuss the existing chemical regulations, the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) implementation status, and also the ECN and NCN programs in Taiwan. Please join us for more details.

The entry into force of the REACH Regulation in 2007 created a new benchmark that Russia has felt compelled to consider, but in the country, still heavily reliant on a standardization approach to product chemical safety, simply copying REACH into national legal systems did not work out. The Russian regulatory system is currently in a transitional state, undergoing continuous legal and administrative reform. The main aim is to replace the old system based on numerous product-specific mandatory standards with a more limited number of federal “technical regulations” that set minimum regulatory and safety requirements for a particular industry, industry sector or wider group of products. Thus, when REACH was adopted, Russian authorities intensified their work on elaborating a Federal Law About Technical Regulation On Safety Of Chemical Products. The early drafts of the Regulation were mostly translations of the REACH Regulation due to the original idea of the drafters to enhance the Russian regulatory system governing chemicals, adapt it to international standards and potentially allow future “mutual recognition” of registrations of chemical substances between the EU and Russia. However, the Russian authorities soon realized that the adoption and implementation in Russia of such a complex Regulation would be virtually impossible. As a consequence, subsequent drafts of the Regulation included significant differences compared to the EU REACH text, taking on board some of the REACH concepts, such as no data/no market, registration of substances, authorization of substances of very high concern, the need for chemical safety assessments and reports, and the need for only representatives for non-Russian producers and distributors. There are still many issues, which make it difficult to accept the Regulation. It is important that companies wishing to trade with Russia take advantage of the current opportunity to monitor and engage in order to influence the shape of the country’s answer to the REACH Regulation.

The Turkish Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MOEF) first published the law on Inventory and Control of Chemicals at the end of 2008. This law was amended in November 2009 to extend the compliance dead line to June 30, 2010. The aim of this regulation is to establish an inventory of the Chemicals manufactured in and imported into Turkey. Based on this regulation, manufacturers and importers of substances on their own or in preparations are required to submit information to the MOEF, if the substances have been introduced in Turkey in the three years up to December 26, 2008. Registration of such substances is required based on their tonnage bands (1-1,000 tpa and over 1,000 tpa). Newly produced/imported chemicals since that date must be registered within 14 months. Please join us in this webinar to learn more about the Turkey REACH like Regulation.

In Australia, chemical manufacturers need to comply with four national chemicals assessment and registration schemes which cover industrial chemicals, agricultural and veterinary chemicals, pharmaceuticals and food. Notification and assessment of industrial chemicals are regulated under the Industrial Chemicals (Notification & Assessment) Act which was enacted in 1989. All importers and manufacturers of industrial chemicals must register with National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS) and apply for a certificate or permit by submitting a notification to NICNAS. An Existing chemical is subject to an assessment process once it has been designated as a priority existing chemical. This webinar will provide an overview of chemical management in Australia with a focus on regulatory obligations of importers and manufacturers of industrial chemicals. GHS implementation status and chemicals banned or restricted in Australia will be discussed as well.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates both new and existing chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which was enacted in 1976. On September 29, 2009, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced plans for a major effort to strengthen EPA’s current chemicals management program and to increase the pace of the Agency’s efforts to address chemicals that pose a risk to the public. Meanwhile, legislation intended to strengthen the TSCA is expected to be introduced shortly in the U.S. Congress. This webinar will review the most recent developments and discuss the current status of chemicals management in the U.S. as of the time it is presented.

Brazilian chemical production and export has become a robust and profitable industry for Brazil. However, this growth has presented serious challenges for the Brazilian chemical industry in many sectors; from soil chemical control to air quality to international regulatory standards such as REACH, GHS, and Responsible Care. In a proactive response to these challenges, Brazil has published a series of standards. One example is the Implementation of the Global Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) of August 2009 (NBR 14725:2009). This standard was adopted in September 2009. It will be made mandatory in February 2011. Let’s explore how this South American nation is addressing these issues and many more regarding Chemical Control.