Align with the objective of ARCP to promote greater chemical management regulatory cooperation and convergence in the ASEAN Member States, the ARCP continues the organization of ARCP mini webinars in 2022 to help in the progressive building of knowledge on chemical management for the ASEAN community.
The first mini webinar for 2022 was held on 14 June, which was again well attended by more than 100 delegates from the ASEAN members states (AMS). The programme for the mini-webinar was focused on sharing of the practical experience on regulatory implementation for the following:
- GHS Implementation Practices and Mutual Acceptance
ARCP GHS VWG co-leads gave an overview on ASEAN Guidance Document on GHS Implementation Alignment and addition of checklist on Best Practices for Adopting New revision and the importance of Mutual Acceptance. This was followed with presenter from the regulator representatives of Vinachemia, Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) of Vietnam and Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of Philippines shared on their mutual acceptance approaches for different GHS versions including the importance of adequate industry consultation process and transition period required as implementation practices
- Application of ASEAN Prioritization Screening Tool
Insightful sharing from a regulator’s perspective on Philippines’s practices and experiences is using the ASEAN prioritization screening tool as well as from an industry’s perspective by Thailand was presented during the session. A key message was shared by Thailand on “ASEAN Prioritization Tool Pilot Study” to see its advantage and gap. Beyond the ASEAN region, delegates were also shared on a case study in Japan in which how the priority screening process has been applied in an established jurisdiction, for their reference.
The webinar also took the opportunity to promote the use of UNEP/ICCA learning tool on “Industrial Chemicals Databases and Information Sharing” which is a public resource to help countries who have limited data/information to kick-start their chemical management regulatory control efforts.
Since the initiation of ARCP mini-webinars in 2021, such mini-webinars have received many positive feedback from delegates who have attended. The ARCP will remain a key initiative of the chemical industry’s efforts towards achieving chemical regulatory cooperation in the ASEAN region with the continued extension support by the industry and regulators of the AMS.
The next mini-webinar has been planned in Sept and More information about ARCP can be found via: https://scic.sg/asean/
