What can you tell me about the new Korean Chemical Controls Law?  

Major amendments to the Korean Toxic Chemicals Control Law and its implementing regulations and decrees became effective January 1, 2006. Toxicity review requirements for new chemicals have been revised as follows:

• New Application Form. The application form for toxicity review has been revised and the kinds of documents required to be submitted expanded.
• Review Period Extended. The period for civil appeals is extended from 45 to 60 days because of the increase of documents to be reviewed and of communication with the Ministry of Labor upon receipt and notice. 
• Public Notice Period. Materials used by a company for hazard determination for the toxicity review must be made public after three years from the day of notice. Materials that have already been reviewed are also subject to a toxicity review because they are considered new chemicals up to the day of public notice. 
• Expansion of Test Items. Records of aquatic ecology toxicity tests such as acute fish toxicity, acute Daphnia magna toxicity, algae acute toxicity, etc. should be submitted for toxicity review of new chemicals from January 2007. 
• New Exemptions. New exemptions from toxicity review include manufactured or imported materials where the entire quantity is to be exported and is under 10 tons. In addition, the exemption for polymer chemicals is expanded to include nonionic polymers whose molecular weight is more than 10,000.
• New Confirmation Report System of Toxicity Review Exemptions. Confirmation of exemption from toxicity review should be made using the application in Exhibit 4 of Ministerial Decree, and submitted to the Korea Chemicals Management Association with attachments necessary for confirming a usage, a name, and exemption reasons of the chemical before "Certificate of Chemical Substance."
• One-Stop Service for Receipt and Notice. For the convenience of those who manufacture and import new chemicals, the Ministry of Environment has taken charge of the receipt and notice of toxicity review, unifying the two paths formerly divided by the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Labor. (It is still possible to submit documents separately to the Ministry of Labor.)
• CBI. The Information Protection System is established to protect very important information which should not be revealed in public. Excluded are basic and general information for handling chemicals such as a product name, a usage, physical and chemical properties, route of environmental release, etc.

Relevant legislation:

• Toxic Chemical Control Law, enacted August 1990; wholly amended on December 30, 1996, the year Korean joined OECD; revised again on December 31, 2004, to be implemented from January 1, 2006
• Presidential Decree of Toxic Chemicals Control Law (December 28, 2005)
• Ministerial Decree of Toxic Chemicals Control Law (December 30, 2005)
• Regulation for Toxicity Examination of Chemical Substances (National Institute of Environmental Research, Public Notice No. 2005-19, January 6, 2006)

- Christina Widodo
  Ariel Senior Regulatory Research Analyst

Are there updates on Japan MSDSs and GHS implementation?

MSDS: In Japan, the following three laws -- the PRTR (Pollutant Release and Transfer Register) and Promotion of Chemical Management Law, the ISHL (Industrial Safety and Health Law), and the Poisonous and Deleterious Substances Control Law -- require suppliers of certain chemical substances or preparations containing chemical substances designated by each law to provide a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) prior to the transfer of such substances or preparations.

1. Under the PRTR law, PRTR Class I Chemical Substances (354 substances) and PRTR Class II Chemical Substances (81 substances) are subject to MSDS requirements. An MSDS is required for products (preparations/mixtures) containing more than 1% (0.1% for human carcinogenic) of one of the listed substances. The PRTR law does not require MSDSs for chemicals that are supplied only for consumers' use. MSDSs can be distributed via fax, email, standard mail. Email requires consent from the receiving party.
2. Under the ISHL, the chemical substances listed on the Table 3-1 (7 substances) and Table 9 (631 substances) of the Enforcement Order are subject to MSDS requirements. For the chemicals listed in Table 3-1 the content of more than 1% (0.5% for benzotricloride) in a product requires an MSDS for that product. For chemicals listed in Table 9 the content of more than 1% of one of these substances in a products involves that an MSDS is prepared and supplied. MSDSs can be distributed via fax, email, standard mail. Email requires consent from the receiving party.
3. Under the Poisonous and Deleterious Substances Control Law, Poisonous Substances, Deleterious Substances and Specified Poisonous Substances are subject to MSDS requirements. The law does not specify general cut off limits, however the list does provide cut off limits for some substances.

Layout of the MSDS is not indicated in these laws. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare however recommends using JIS Z 7250.

GHS implementation: APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) aims to implement GHS by the end of 2006 and Japanese ministries are now working together to this end. The Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) for MSDS and the Industrial Safety and Health Law were amended in this context.

November 2005, Industrial Safety and Health Law (ISHL) amended.  ISHL was amended in November 2005. Articles concerning labeling and MSDS of chemicals were amended and those amendments will take effect on December 1, 2006. The object of the law is expanded from harmful chemicals such as carcinogenic substances to both harmful and hazardous chemicals such as flammable substances. In order to fulfill GHS requirements, pictograms and signal words were added to the requirements for the label. The substances that will be regulated under the amended law and further details about the pictograms are going to be decided in the summer of this year.

December 2005, JIS standard "SDS for chemical products" revised (Z 7250:2005). The Japanese JIS standard for MSDS was revised on December 20, 2005 in order to ensure consistency with GHS. The new standard requires, among other things, to state GHS classification and label elements. The old standard (JIS Z 7250:2000) can be used until the end of 2010.

March 2006, new JIS standard "Labeling of chemicals based on GHS" established (Z 7251:2006). As a part of the Japanese implementation of GHS, a new JIS standard for labeling was established on March 25, 2006. This standard is based on GHS and indicates the following information as label elements:

a) Pictogram
b) Signal word
c) Hazard statement
d) Precautionary statement
e) Product name
f) Supplier

The JIS standard allows for additional information to be included on the label.

For more information, contact Miki Nishimura at mnishimura@arielresearch.com.

3E in the News............................................................................................................

Construction Executive magazine recently published an article, "Managing Regulatory Burdens," by 3E Manager of Onsite Services Michael Beckel. The article explains the risks of hazardous materials at construction sites, pointing out the potential for serious fines and the advantages in outsourcing MSDS and EH&S compliance management. Read the full story here.

EPA Reports Overall Decrease in Toxic Chemicals Released Into Environment

The amount of toxic chemicals released into the environment decreased four percent from 2003 to 2004, with the metal mining sector, hazardous waste/solvent recovery facilities and electric utilities reporting the largest decreases in releases, EPA announced on April 12. For more information, click here.

From SOCMA

RCRA Burden Reduction Final Rule Signed

On  March 15th, the EPA Administrator signed the RCRA Burden Reduction Final Rule. The rule will reduce and streamline many of the burdensome and duplicative recordkeeping requirements of RCRA. SOCMA submitted comments twice on this rule and has had several meetings with EPA on how the streamlining changes can be accomplished. After six weeks of work, EPA has finalized many of SOCMA's suggestions, including: 1) Reduced Tank Inspection Frequency from daily to weekly and that it not be done on a case-by-case basis, 2) Option of Doing OSHA or RCRA Training, 3) Reduced Recordkeeping Retention to three years for many records, 4) Streamlined LDR Paperwork Requirements, 5) Treat ability studies - eliminates requirement that facilities submit an estimate of the number of studies and waste to be expected to be used in studies in the upcoming year, and 6) Solid Waste Variance - eliminates requirement that petitioners survey industry wide prevalence of the material production process. These are all burden reducing improvements in both man hours and cost savings.

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