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On March 12, 2025, the AICIS invited the public to comment on the proposal to link about 700 online chemical records of the Australian Inventory of Industrial Chemicals (AIIC) to their associated NICNAS assessment reports. If the proposal is adopted, it will allow the public to directly access the NICNAS assessment reports from the online chemical record, without the need to do a separate assessment search. Comments are welcome before April 23, 2025.
NICNAS - National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme was the former scheme implemented in Australia. It had been replaced by AICIS - Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme from July 1, 2020. AICIS requires anyone who wants to introduce (manufacture or import) an industrial chemical to check whether it is on AIIC before introducing it into Australia. AIIC is a searchable database of around 40,000 chemicals that are being introduced (manufactured or imported) into Australia for industrial use. Chemicals assessed by NICNAS are also included.
The online chemical records searched out will display relevant chemical information like chemical name, CAS number, and molecular formula. Notably, online records of around 10% of chemicals on AIIC also contain a Specific Information Requirement (SIR). Some were assessed by AICIS in recent years, whose online chemical records are currently displayed with links to corresponding AICIS assessment and evaluation statements (see screenshot below). For chemicals requiring SIR, prior to the introduction, introducers (manufacturers or importers) are obligated to provide AICIS with any information that may indicate a new or increased risk associated with the chemical introduction, compared with risks that NICNAS or AICIS identified through an assessment or evaluation.
Example of AIIC online chemical record
However, for chemicals assessed by NICNAS, associated assessment reports need to be separately searched in the assessment database. To improve access to assessment information, AICIS recently put forward this proposal for about 700 NICNAS assessed chemicals which require SIR. This proposal does not apply to most chemicals that NICNAS assessed as polymers of low concern (PLCs), excluding 15 PLCs. Online chemical records of these 15 PLCs may include a requirement for health exposure information in certain circumstances.
AICIS will review all the collected feedback. If the proposal is adopted, AICIS will add links to NICNAS assessment reports from the online chemical records in mid-2025. To maintain existing information protection, AICIS would not link NICNAS assessment report to any online chemical record, if it does not contain a CAS number or chemical name.
