Australia: New Chemicals Law Before Parliament

The new Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme (AICIS) currently before Parliament replaces the law in effect since 1989. In a parallel action, the Australian Department of Health published its Consultation Paper 5 on the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS) at the beginning of June and has asked for feedback. The primary issue here is the categorization and evaluation of new industrial chemicals that have not yet been listed with the Department. NICNAS has also published a consultation schedule (updated on March 24).

With the new law, the government hopes to remove high-risk chemicals from the market more quickly. It contains incentives for the increased use of harmless alternatives and makes importing them significantly simpler.

For more information on this topic, please read our blog entry, Australia: New Chemicals Law in the Home Stretch. If you operate in the Australian market, you can contact us at reach@kft.de.