A Comparison of Recent Chemical Substance Regulations in Asian Countries and Future Problems. Teruo Oshima, Japan Chemical Safety Institute, Azamino 3-30-6, Yokohama City, Japan 225
With the recent economic development in Asian countries, pollution due to chemical substances has become a problem. In Korea and Philippines, regulations including the notification of new chemical substances have already been implemented, and in Thailand, Taiwan and China, harmful chemical substances have been designed and regulated. When a chemical product is imported to China by a foreign company for the first time, risk assessment is conducted by notification with safety data similar to that in the seventh Amendment Directive of E.U., and a permit is issued. This regulation was promulgated in May, 1994. The difference in the content of regulations according to the cultural, social and economic conditions in each country is inevitable. However, some problems exist compared to the same regulations in Japan, U.S. and E.U. etc., such as common knowledge and understanding of the content of regulations prior to the promulgation of the regulations, gathering options concerning the draft if possible, procedures of making the existing chemical substances list, consideration for commercial confidentiality, and maximum possible international harmonization of regulatory content etc. Since other Asian countries will be expected to introduce new chemical substance notification in the future, a guideline by an international organization will be desirable, making possible maximum harmonization, avoiding needless trouble and preventing pollution by chemical substances.