Australia - Strengthen Regulations on Persistent Organic Pollutant (POPs) Chemicals

Vol. 1395 | 31 Jan 2024

On 18 December 2023, Australia issued the Industrial Chemicals Environmental Management (Register) Amendment (2023 Measures No. 1) Instrument 2023 (the Amendment) to designate several persistent organic pollutants (POPs) to Schedules 6 and 7 under the Industrial Chemicals Environmental Management (Register) Instrument 2022 (IChEMS Register).

Background:

The IChEMS Register assigns chemicals to one of seven schedules based on their risk characteristics. Industrial chemicals under Schedules 6 and 7 are of greatest environmental concern and have tighter controls.

Schedule 6 chemicals are industrial chemicals that are likely to cause serious or irreversible harm to the environment with essential uses. Industrial chemicals under Schedule 7 have the same characteristics as Schedule 6 chemicals, but with no essential uses.

The following chemical has been designated to Schedule 6 & 7 of the IChEMS Register:

Schedule 6:

• Decabromodiphenyl ether (DecaBDE) and Nonabromodiphenyl ether (NonaBDE)

Schedule 7:

• Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD)
• TetraBDE and PentaBDE
• Hexa-, hepta- and octaBDE
• Pentachlorobenzene (PeCB)
• Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts and PFOA-related compounds
• Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), its salts, perfluorooctanesulfonyl fluoride (PFOS-F) and PFOS-related compounds
• Perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), its salts and PFHxS-related compounds
• Short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCP)

The assigning of chemicals and products containing such chemicals to Schedule 6 & 7 of the IChEMS will prohibit their import, manufacture, use and export, with limited derogations for unintentional trace contamination (UTC), disposal, and for articles (products) in use prior to the effective date of the decision.

Table 1 summarizes key provisions related to the presence of the substance or substances class as unintentional trace contamination (UTC) in the Amendment.

Table 1
Substances	Requirements in articles	Effective Date
DecaBDE and nonaBDE	Sum of all tetra-, penta-, hexa-, hepta-, octa-, nona- and decaBDE ≤ 500mg/kg in articles except electrical and electronic equipment ​ ​	1 July 2025
OctaBDE, heptaBDE and hexaBDE		1 July 2024
PentaBDE and tetraBDE		1 July 2024
1,3-Butadiene, 1,1,2,3,4,4-hexachloro-	Level at which the chemical cannot be meaningfully used	1 July 2023
PeCB	Level at which the chemical cannot be meaningfully used	1 July 2024
Hexabromobiphenyls	Level at which the chemical cannot be meaningfully used	1 July 2023
HBCDD	≤ 100 mg/kg	1 July 2024
PFHxS and its salts	≤ 0.025 mg/kg	1 July 2025 ​
PFHxS-related compounds	≤ 1 mg/kg (individually and sum)
PFOS, its salts and PFOS-F	≤ 0.025 mg/kg	1 July 2025 ​
PFOS-related compounds	≤ 1 mg/kg (individually and sum)
PFOA and its salts	≤ 0.025 mg/kg	1 July 2025 ​
PFOA-related compounds	≤ 1 mg/kg (individually and sum)
Polychlorinated naphthalenes	Level at which the chemical cannot be meaningfully used	1 July 2023
SCCP	≤ 1,500 mg/kg (0.15%)	1 July 2024

You can access the update through the following link: https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2023L01689/latest/text

If you have further questions, please contact Dr. Kathy Leung (Kathy.Leung@intertek.com) or Dr. Ben Cheng (Ben.PS.Cheng@intertek.com).