EPHC Priority Projects - Management of Chemicals

National Framework for Chemicals Environmental Management First Progress Report - November 2008

The NChEM Working Group has made significant progress since endorsement of the NChEM Ministerial Agreement and Action Plan in June 2007. The attachment below outlines the achievements of NChEM in its first year of operation.

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National Framework for Chemicals Environmental Management - NChEM - Chemicals Action Plan for the Environment - First Progress Report - November 2008	file size 101kb

EPHC Endorses National Framework for Chemicals Environmental Management

On Saturday 2 June 2007 Environment Ministers considered and endorsed the National Framework for Chemicals Environmental Management (NChEM). The NChEM package includes:

a Ministerial Agreement on Principles for Better Environmental Management of Chemicals, and
a Chemicals Action Plan for the Environment.

The Ministerial Agreement demonstrates the commitment by Environment Ministers and their agencies to improve environmental aspects of Australia’s chemical management system.

The Ministerial Agreement and the Chemicals Action Plan for the Environment are available below. For any enquiries concerning the Ministerial Agreement and Chemicals Action Plan please contact the appropriate Chemicals Working Group member in your state or territory - contact details are available below.

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Ministerial Agreement and Chemicals Action Plan	file size 120kb
EPHC Chemicals Working Group - Contact Details	file size 31kb

Public Comment Invited on Draft Environmental Risk Assessment Guidance Manuals
for:
• Industrial Chemicals, and
• Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals

The Environment Protection and Heritage Council (EPHC) is inviting public comment on draft Environmental Risk Assessment Guidance Manuals for industrial chemicals and agricultural and veterinary chemicals.

Background
The National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS) regulates the introduction of new industrial chemicals into Australia, assesses existing industrial chemicals on a priority bases and assesses the potential occupational health and safety, public health and environmental risks associated with their introduction and use. The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) is an Australian government authority responsible for the assessment, registration and regulation of pesticides and veterinary medicines. Under a service level agreement, the Commonwealth Department of the Environment and Water Resources (DEW) undertakes the environmental risk assessment for consideration in the overall assessment carried out by NICNAS and the APVMA.

The content of the Guidance Manuals used by DEW for environmental risk assessments has not previously been available for public scrutiny and comment. This is occurring following the endorsement by the EPHC in June 2007 of the National Framework for Chemicals Environmental Management (NChEM). One of the recommendations to the EPHC, emerging from prior consultation with industry and civil society stakeholders, was for the Guidance Manuals to be made available for public comment.

The Guidance Manuals outline the current practice for conducting environmental risk assessment of chemicals in Australia and provide an overview of:
• the steps taken to carry out an environmental risk assessment on industrial and agvet chemicals, including lifecycle considerations;
• what data are needed and how they are used;
• how international considerations are taken into account; and
• how risk assessors come to their recommendations about environmental risk management actions.

Making a submission
Interested organisations and individuals are encouraged to make a submission on either or both of the draft manuals. The closing date for submissions is Friday 23 November 2007. The draft manuals are available below. Hard copies, if needed, are available from the NEPC Service Corporation. Hard copies can also be viewed at libraries participating in the free issues scheme. A list of these libraries are available at http://www.agimo.gov.au/information/publishing/deposit/libraries.

In your submission, please state clearly the page numbers or sections of the Guidance Manuals on which you are commenting.

All submissions and parts thereof are public documents unless clearly marked “confidential”. Submissions may be forwarded by email (preferably), on disk, in hard copy or by facsimile.

Electronic submissions should preferably be provided in Microsoft Word format. If providing submissions in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF), please ensure that the text can be copied from the document otherwise a Microsoft Word document will be required. To allow ease of photocopying, hard copy submissions should be unbound.

Please direct any enquiries and send your submissions to:

Ms Monina Gilbey
Project Officer
NEPC Service Corporation
Level 5, 81 Flinders Street
ADELAIDE SA 5000

Email: mgilbey@ephc.gov.au
Telephone: (08) 8419 1206
Facsimile: (08) 8224 0912

How your submission will be handled

Receipt of your submission will be acknowledged promptly. A summary of the issues raised in submissions and their impact on the content of the Guidance Manuals and the revised Manuals will also be published on the web site.

The Guidance Manuals are living documents and will be amended from time to time in line with increasing knowledge and changes in best practice. To assist this process there will be further periodic formal opportunities for public comment on the Manuals. Any views you may have on how often such formal reviews should occur are welcome.

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Environmental Risk Assessment Guidance Manual for agricultural and veterinary chemicals	901kb
Environmental Risk Assessment Guidance Manual for industrial chemicals	755kb

PREVIOUS WORK

Public Roundtable Meetings

During March to May 2007, the Chemicals Working Group held three roundtables with interested stakeholders on NChEM proposals relating to “Priority and Emerging Chemical Issues”, “Information Needs” and “Regulatory Links”. The thought-starter papers which were the basis of discussions as well as a summary of key issues raised by stakeholders are provided below.

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Public Roundatable Meeting Documents - March 2007	file size 264kb
Public Roundtable Meeting Documents - May 2007	file size 230kb

Summary of Submissions received on NChEM Discussion Paper

On 27 April 2007 the EPH Standing Committee released a summary of submissions made on the NChEM Discussion Paper. The summary of submissions document includes responses by the EPHC Chemicals Working Group to issues raised. Twenty two submissions were received from a wide range of stakeholders. The summary of submissions document is available below.

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Summary of Submissions received on Discussion Paper	file size 354kb

Discussion paper on a proposal for framework for National Chemicals Environmental Management

In June 2006 the EPHC endorsed the release of a discussion paper, developed by the National Chemicals Working Group, which describes proposals for the development of a National framework for Environmental Chemicals Management (NChEM) in Australia. The discussion paper is available below.

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NChEM: A National Framework for Chemicals Management in Australia - Discussion Paper	file size 524kb
Questions and Answers about NChEM	file size 136kb

A National Approach to the Management of Chemicals

Background Information

In May 2002, the EPHC established a high level National Chemicals Taskforce to scope issues associated with, and the need for, a national approach to ecologically sustainable chemical management and regulation in Australia.

The National Chemicals Taskforce had representation from the health, work safety and primary industries Ministerial Councils as well as Environment Protection Agencies (EPAs). The taskforce was chaired by the Director-General of the NSW Department of Environment and Conservation. The National Chemicals Taskforce developed a scoping paper - Towards Ecologically Sustainable Management of Chemicals in Australia - which is available for download below.

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Scoping paper - Towards Ecologically Sustainable Management of Chemicals in Australia	file size 498kb

In preparing its report, the Taskforce accessed a significant number of useful chemical information resources. These resources were assembled as supporting information in the document that can be downloaded below.

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Supporting Information - Towards Ecologically Sustainable Management of Chemicals in Australia	file size 223kb

Stakeholder reports and consultations undertaken by the National Taskforce, a summary of which appears as Appendix 4 of the Scoping Report, can be downloaded below.

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National Taskforce on Chemical Management & Regulation - Summary of Stakeholder Comment	file size 173kb

In May 2003, the taskforce report was considered by EPHC. The Taskforce concluded that, while Australia has made significant progress towards ecologically sustainable chemicals management, more work is needed.

Consequently, EPHC established a Working Group chaired by NSW DEC on the Environmental Risk Management of Chemicals to develop a proposal for a national environmental risk management framework for chemicals. The Working Group was also asked to investigate options to address other priority areas identified in the Taskforce's scoping report. In doing so, the Working Group has consulted with relevant ministeral councils, government agencies, industry and the community.

Information about the Working Group and the projects it is undertakings were outlined in the April 2004 stakeholder report below.

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Working Group on the Environmental Risk Management of Chemicals – Report to Stakeholders – April 2004 file size 153kb

If you are looking for the "Final report of the National ChemCollect Program" - click here.

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