• China Consults on Safety Guidelines for Chemical Laboratories

      October 18, 2019    Horace Wang    24

    Takehome: The Guidelines stipulate the safety management specification for chemical laboratories, focusing on prevention and control through hazard identification and risk assessment. These Guidelines are applicable to chemical laboratories in colleges,...

  • China Vows to Cut Air Pollution during Fall and Winter in 28 Northern Cities

      October 18, 2019    Nora Wang    31

    Takehome: China issued the 2019-2020 Comprehensive Action Plan for Air Pollution Control during Fall and Winter in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region and Nearby Areas, committing to facilitate continued improvements to air quality in 28 northern...

  • Taiwan to Promote Non-animal Testing for Taiwan REACH

      October 17, 2019    Nadine He    211

    Takehome: Taiwan will incentivize the use of non-animal tests for new and existing chemical registration. Discounts on registration fee will be offered to promote use of non-animal testing. No changes to current legislation are expected until after the second batch...

  • Brief on Recent Developments in Thailand’s Hazardous Substance Act

      October 14, 2019    Horace Wang    506

    Takehome: The 4th version of the Thailand Hazardous Substance Act will enter into effect on 27th October 2019. In the revised Act, the definition of “transit” is separated from “import”. Redundant/superfluous procedures in the importation process have also been...

  • CICO, K-REACH’s SIEF System Finally Opens

      October 10, 2019    Horace Wang    474

    Takehome: The highly anticipated K-REACH CICO (analogous to EU REACH’s substance information exchange forum -SIEF) finally opened on 7th October. Companies that want to complete joint-registration need to join CICO first. Enterprises willing to play the role of LR...

  • Taiwan to Issue Guidance for Standard Registration of Priority Existing Chemicals

      October 9, 2019    Nadine He    725

    Takehome: 2020 is just around the corner and marks the beginning of the window for standard registration of PECs in Taiwan. The Guidance for Standard Registration of Priority Existing Chemicals was initially drafted in March and updated in September. It will be...
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  • China’s Supervision of VOCs Emissions Critical to Combating Grave Environmental Issues

      10 Oct 2019   Deborah Xiong

    Takehome: Enterprises shall pay close attention to trends and changes in regulation of VOCs emission which are a priority target in China’s environmental rectification campaign. VOC management is shifting focus towards source control and management of fugitive emissions. More than 400 policy documents and 80 emission standards related to control...

  • China`s VOC Management and Impact on the Chemical Industry

      9 Sep 2019   Kai Pflug

    Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic chemicals that have a low boiling point (below 250ºC) at atmospheric pressure. While most of them are not acutely toxic, they are known to have negative long-term effects on human health. According to a study published in 2017, in China the use of VOC-containing products is the main source of VOC emissions, contributing about 75% of total...

  • China’s Working Plans for the Environmental Management of Chemical Substances

      23 Aug 2019   Deborah Xiong

    Takehome: China plans to optimize environmental management of chemicals through the implementation of a single overarching chemical regulation which would specify the broad compliance requirements for chemicals throughout their lifecycle and throughout the supply chain. To support this China will also implement two new systems of risk assessment and control, establish and...

  • Introduction of Global Occupational Exposure Limits

      20 Aug 2019   Robert Brandys

    1. Historical Perspective on Global Occupational Exposure Limits Adverse health effects from occupational exposure to chemicals has been known for thousands of years. The Romans noted effects from lead and asbestos and later arsenic. A list of “poisons” that have been used for various purposes was well known.  Establishing occupational exposure limits for some...

  • South Korea to Ease Chemical Regulations to Offset Impact of Japanese Export Curbs

      14 Aug 2019   Nadine He

    The trade friction between South Korea and Japan has attracted considerable attention and led many (click here[1] and...

  • Challenges and Strategies for Chemical Parks in China

      9 Aug 2019   Kai Pflug

    China`s approximately 600 chemical parks are currently in a situation that at first glance seems quite enviable. As the government has mandated the relocation of chemical production into chemical parks and imposed tight deadlines, attractive chemical parks get a...
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