ChemCon Americas Conference Debates REACH, TSCA Reform, GHS

This past week has been the ChemCon Americas conference in Philadelphia, where mostly industry representatives, regulatory experts, and scientists get together to discuss important issues affecting the chemical industry.  And this week was no exception.  Hot topics included the scramble to make the November 30th REACH deadline, the confusion over how various countries are implementing (or not implementing) GHS, and the uncertainty over what may or may not happen with TSCA reform in the United States.

Representatives from EPA continued to make the case that the 34-year old Toxic Substances Control Act just does not give them the authority to efficiently review tens of thousands of existing chemicals grandfathered onto the TSCA Inventory (for later review). With the chairmanships of the House set to switch from the Democratic Waxman and Rush to "Republicans to be named later," there still seems to be the belief that some form of TSCA reform will happen in the next Congress.  Meanwhile, a lawyer representing industry interests reminded attendees that the individual states are pressing forward with their own versions of reform, perhaps presenting industry with an even more complicated patchwork of regulations to monitor.

REACH also received attention.  A representative from the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) encouraged companies to keep on pushing to meet the fast approaching deadline.  Tens of thousands of registrations have been received and many more are expected in the mad rush during the next two weeks.  Oh, and then there is the CLP - Europe's version of the Globally Harmonized System for classification and labeling, for which companies must notify all of their chemicals by January 3rd (even those not scheduled for REACH registration until 2013 or 2018).  And let's not forget Turkey. And China and Japan. And New Zealand and Australia.  And cosmetics?

No wonder everyone looks a little knackered.

REACH Hits Malaysia - Chemical Control Meets Free Trade?

A work plan is being developed by a group trying to implement a Malaysian version of Europe's Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) program. The work group includes the Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI), the Chemical Industries Council of Malaysia (CICM), and other relevant government agencies.

The MITI Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, warned that any legislation implemented for health and environment reasons should not impede the free flow of trade. This has been a major concern for companies both inside and outside Europe regarding REACH. Mr. Yassin insisted that "such regulations should be simple, harmonised and not incur additional expenses to the cost of doing business in the industry."

The goal, therefore, is to assist small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in complying with the European Union-REACH regulation and the Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). While larger companies often have significant resources and in-house experts, SMEs often have quite limited resources.

In his prepared remarks, which were read by the deputy minister of MITI at the International Conference on Chemical Control Legislation (ChemCon Asia 2009) being held in Kuala Lumpur, he said that the world is increasingly becoming smaller due to globalisation and what affects the chemical industry in Europe will have a direct and indirect impact on it in Asia and vice versa.

Malaysia is the most recent in implementing a series of changes in the chemical control field as REACH takes hold in Europe, Canada is well into evaluating its inventory of existing chemicals, Japan adjusts its chemical control legislation, and the US begins its hearings looking at how to "reform TSCA."