The General Rules and Classification Guidelines for Australian Chemicals will be implemented this month

At the end of March 2024, the Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Service (AICIS) issued a notice that the revised rules regarding classification, reporting, and record keeping will be officially implemented from April 24, 2024.

On July 1, 2020, the Industrial Chemicals Act 2019 was officially implemented, and AICIS replaced NICNAS as the new regulatory agency for industrial chemical activities in Australia. Among them, the "General Rules for Industrial Chemicals 2019" (hereinafter referred to as the "General Rules") and the "Classification Guidelines for Industrial Chemicals" (hereinafter referred to as the "Classification Guidelines") are the most important regulatory documents and guidance tools for introducers to understand their compliance obligations and confirm the categories of substances introduced.


Up to now, the new law has been implemented for nearly four years. During this period, the government has received many opinions and suggestions from the industry regarding the new law. Last year, the revision work of the regulations was initiated with the aim of further improving and optimizing relevant regulations to adapt to industry development and market demand.


From September to November 2023, AICIS conducted public consultations on a series of revisions to the General Rules and Classification Guidelines, covering the introduction and classification of chemicals, as well as reporting and record keeping requirements for listed substances, exemptions, and reported substances.


In February of this year, the official responded to the concerns of people from all walks of life, stating that the official revision will begin in April and an announcement will be issued about a month before the new rules are officially implemented. So, there was the revision announcement at the end of March above!


1、 Revised content of the General Rules


The main revisions regarding the General Rules include:


Replace written commitments with records that are easy to follow;


Wider acceptance of the International Cosmetic Ingredient Nomenclature (INCI) name for reporting and record keeping purposes;


Modify classification criteria to benefit:


1. Local soap manufacturers


2. Introduction of chemical substances in essence and spice mixture


3. The person who introduces and uses controlled hazardous chemicals


·Strengthen standards and/or reporting requirements for health and environmental protection


For example, preventing persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from being classified as exempted or reported as introduced categories.


In addition, after considering the feedback received from the industry, the official has made further modifications to the revised draft, including:


·Simplify the record keeping requirements for the introduction of listed substances (such as simplifying the record keeping requirements for names, deleting record keeping requirements related to maximum concentration, introduction amount, and known hazard classification);


·Expand the availability of INCI names for reporting and record keeping (without knowing the CAS or IUPAC names);


·Expand the applicable standards for chemical substances in essence and flavor mixture (after revision, chemicals not on the IFRA transparency list can also meet the relevant standards).


2、 Revised content of the Classification Guide


The revision of the Classification Guidelines underwent two rounds of public consultation, and after consulting with AICIS on the proposed modifications and considering feedback from the industry, the final revision of the Classification Guidelines has been completed.


To coincide with the effective date of the revision of the General Rules, the Classification Guidelines (Second Edition) will also be officially released on April 24th.


The revision of the Classification Guidelines mainly includes:


·Revision and inspection of the Classification List of High Hazardous Chemicals (hereinafter referred to as the "List")


·According to the AICIS assessment, the requirement to include high-risk chemicals in the "List";


·Providing more options for the introducer to prove that the introduced substance does not cause skin irritation and sensitivity;


·Supplement the guidelines for rapid biodegradability testing and more predictive models.


In addition, considering feedback from industry stakeholders that they need more time to cope with some changes, AICIS is scheduled to update the Classification Guidelines again on September 24, 2024, which will include the following revisions:


·Add more substances to the List based on the current information source, and use the European Commission Endocrine Disruptor List (List I) as the information source


·Improved the requirements for the introducer to prove that the introduced substance has no specific target organ toxicity (repeated exposure) and bioaccumulation


3、 Suggest relevant enterprises


The revision of regulations aims to address some of the challenges faced by introducers in fulfilling their compliance obligations. Of course, all beneficial modification suggestions for introducers are based on reducing regulatory burden while maintaining regulatory protection mechanisms, in order for AICIS to achieve its core goal of maintaining sound health, safety, and environmental standards in Australia.


As the two most important guiding documents for determining compliance obligations and substance introduction categories for introducers, the revision of the General Rules and Classification Guidelines will directly affect all industrial chemical introducers. Moreover, many of the revision suggestions in this revision are based on the perspective of reducing the burden on introducers and addressing compliance challenges. It is recommended that all relevant parties closely monitor the progress of regulatory revisions and keep abreast of the latest compliance requirements.