Australia Intends to List Several Chemicals on the IChEMS Register

SG 154/24

Australia has initiated a consultation over its proposed listing of several chemicals to the IChEMS Register. Comments are being accepted until October 25, 2024.

The Australia Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) has announced its proposed scheduling of several chemicals to the nation’s Industrial Chemicals Environmental Management (Register) Instrument 2022 (IChEMS Register).

The IChEMS Register is a register where industrial chemicals are assigned to one of seven schedules based on their risk characteristics, as set out in the IChEMS Principles.

These proposed industrial chemicals/groups of chemicals are:

• Hexachlorobenzene (HCB)
• Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
• Polychlorinated terphenyls (PCTs)
• Lauryl (dodecyl) sulfates
• Linear alkylbenzene sulfonates

The chemicals HCB, PCBs and PCTs will be assigned to Schedule 7 of the IChEMS Register, a category of chemicals that are likely to cause serious or irreversible harm to the environment with no essential uses. This will prohibit their import, manufacture, use and export, with limited derogations for unintentional trace contamination (UTC), laboratory-scale research or as a reference standard, disposal, and for articles in use prior to the effective date of the decision.

The lower-concern chemicals lauryl (dodecyl) sulfates and linear alkylbenzene sulfonates will be designated as Schedule 3 chemicals ‘Industrial chemicals that have the potential to cause harm to the environment’.

Highlights of the proposed decisions for HCB, PCBs and PCTs and their uses are summarized in Tables 1 and 2, respectively.

Table 1. Proposed decisions for HCB, PCBs and PCTs

¹Unless permission has been granted, the import of goods and substances containing PCBs or PCTs is prohibited under regulation 4AB of the Customs (Prohibited Import) Regulations 1956.

Table 2. Uses of HCB, PCBs and PCTs

Additionally, the DCCEEW is consulting over its proposed changes to the following industrial chemicals:

• Pentachlorobenzene (PeCB)
• Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and related substances
• Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and related substances
• Short chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs, SafeGuardS 10/24)

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