In September 2019, the Philippine Environmental Management Bureau under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-EMB) published a draft of Additional Chemicals in Philippine Inventory of Chemical and Chemical Substances (PICCS) List [1], planning to add 31 additional chemicals to the country’s PICCS.
The PICCS, now contains over 47,000 items, is a list of all existing chemicals and chemical substances used, sold, distributed, imported, processed, manufactured, stored, exported, treated, or transported in the Philippines. It was first published by the DENR-EMB in 1995 and later updated in 2000, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017. Businesses can check whether their chemicals are listed therein via the online search tool [2] launched by the government.
Chemicals which are not listed in the PICCS will be deemed as new chemicals in the Philippines, and their manufacturers or importers are required to submit a Pre-Manufacturer and Pre-Importation Notification (PMPIN) to the DENR-EMB, so as to get a new chemical notification and secure clearance. In contrast, for chemicals listed in the PICCS, their manufacturers or importers will be exempt from notification requirements as long as such chemicals are not subject to the Priority Chemical List (PCL) [3] or Chemical Control Orders (CCO) (see ChemLinked expert article on chemical management in the Philippines [4]).