China’s Solid Waste and Chemicals Management Centre (MEE-SCC), a department of the Ministry for Ecology and Environment (MEE), has given companies until October 31 to submit their missing annual reports. The reports are required when companies register new chemicals that are persistent (P), bioaccumulative (B), and toxic (T). They also include information...
In September, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) published the online version of the new GHS requirements (GHS Rev.9). The only change from the previous version (GHS Rev.8) is the chapter on explosives. The remaining content remains essentially the same. A committee of GHS experts regularly revises the…
Since mid-September, consumers and waste disposers can access the data in the SCIP database to learn about hazardous materials in products. The ECHA issued a press release on the availability of access. According to the ECHA, about 6,000 companies have made 17 million submissions to SCIP. As of September 2021, the...
Scheduled to last five years and supported by €11.6 million, EU Project ZeroPM (Zero Pollution of Persistent, Mobile Substances) is to bring together many well-known scientists. Under the direction of Dr. Sarah Hale and Prof. Hans Peter Arp of the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, the project’s members are to work at various levels –...
Japan wants to improve work safety when dealing with chemicals and is considering modifications of its Health and Safety Law. The measures being planned are based on a report, How to Manage Chemicals in the Workplace (in Japanese only), published by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW)…
In September of this year, the ECHA will release initial information from the SCIP database for consumers, recycling companies, and other interested parties. The ECHA chose this date after it missed the planned start at the end of February because of technical problems. That information is found in the current...
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has issued a report, Chemicals of Concern in the Building and Construction Sector, that recommends avoiding the use in the construction sector of chemicals that have been proven to be health risks. Large quantities of these chemicals are used in insulating materials, wood and...
Thailand wants to add ten new substances to the list of dangerous chemicals. The chemicals must be registered with the Department of Industrial Works and require approval and a registration certificate before the companies affected can manufacture or import the chemicals. The chemicals involved are substances with an increased hazard...
On March 29, South Africa published a Regulation for Hazardous Chemical Agents that includes the requirements of GHS Rev.7 (2017). But the requirements apply only to the classification and labeling of chemicals in the industrial sector. The 1995 Occupational Health and Safety Act serves as the basis for the Regulation. For example, point...
The European Chemical Industry Council (Conseil Européen des Fédérations de l'Industrie Chimique: CEFIC) criticized the push of the EU Commission to introduce new hazard classes soon. Chemical Watch quoted the Council as saying “as CEFIC, we see this direction as alarming,” because the step works against plans to establish global, uniform hazard communication. In the past, the...
