Advisory Committee on the Environmental Management of Industrial Chemicals

The Industrial Chemicals Environmental Management Standard (IChEMS) involves the establishment of the Industrial Chemicals Environmental Management Standard Advisory Committee (IChEMS Advisory Committee). Under IChEMS, industrial chemicals in use or proposed for use in Australia will be assigned to a schedule 1-7 according to their level of concern to the environment, and appropriate risk management measures applied. The role of the IChEMS Advisory Committee is to provide expert advice to the minister on certain scheduling decisions. In particular, the committee will provide advice on decisions that propose to restrict or ban a given industrial chemical. For such chemicals, the matters that the committee will consider will include whether there is an essential use of the chemical in question, viable alternatives and the social or economic impacts of restricting or prohibiting the chemical’s use in Australia.