In an article published on March 28, 2019, non-governmental organization BizNGO reported on a new partnership to address the growing and varying chemicals regulations and initiatives to improve the transparency of chemicals in products, specifically in the United States. The non-governmental organization Clean Production Action (CPA) and the Northeast Waste Management Officials Association’s (NEWMOA) governmental organization the Interstate Chemicals Clearinghouse (IC2) “will convene businesses, governments, and NGOs to develop common principles and criteria for chemical transparency policy.” Beginning in mid-2019 and running into 2020, the partnership aims “to accelerate state and local policy development, industry action, and government programs that focus on disclosure of toxic chemicals in products.” The organizers say that “these stakeholders – governments, businesses, NGOs, and researchers – could benefit greatly from a set of common principles and data practices.” The initiative is being funded by The New York Community Trust.
A similar initiative was reported on in an article published on March 28, 2019 by news provider Chemical Watch. Speaking at Chemical Watch’s Global Business Summit, the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) shared the ongoing efforts of a cross-sector industry group to create a standard for companies to report chemical substances in articles throughout the supply chain. Named the Proactive Alliance, the group released a mission statement in February and aims to harmonize criteria for creating a substance reporting list (SRL) and for declaring substance information in articles.
Stephane Content from Cefic said that unless an SRL exists, it is “not possible to collect efficient substance data, and confidential business information (CBI) is difficult to protect.” He went on to say that “the more harmonized the sector/company SRLs are, the more efficient data collection can be and less individual work is required.” While the group aims to achieve global harmonization, for now they say they are focusing on discussing with stakeholders only within Europe and will present and discuss initial results later with other regional partners. The group aims to share its draft policy recommendations during the fifth International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM) in October 2020.
Read more
BizNGO (March 28, 2019). “Stakeholder Initiative Seeks Common Ground on Public Policies for Chemical Ingredient Transparency.”
Lisa Martine Jenkins (April 3, 2019). “US stakeholders launch ingredient transparency initiative.” Chemical Watch
Leigh Stringer (March 28, 2019). “Proactive Alliance splits into groups to progress chemical reporting goal.” Chemical Watch
