ICCA calls for chemical ‘navigator’

The International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA), meeting at Montevideo, Uruguay, has called for the creation of a global repository of publicly available information on chemicals, or ‘international navigator’.

This might be based on existing databases such as Iuclid, the EU Chemicals Legislation Finder (EUCLEF), other databases from the US, Canada and Japan, and the OECD’s eChemPortal, the association said. It would greatly help capacity-building efforts in countries with limited knowledge on chemicals and undeveloped regulatory systems.

This was one of several recommendations on the sound management of chemicals and waste that the ICCA made ahead of the third Open Ended Working Group meeting to discuss the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) post-2020. Implementation of the Globally Harmonised System and safety data sheets are among the others.

“ICCA believes that beyond 2020, the SAICM framework should maintain its voluntary, multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral nature and continue to focus on its core work: building basic chemicals management capacity in countries that need it most,” said Cal Dooley (above), ICCA council secretary and CEO of the American Chemistry Council.