On 5 July, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) announced that 2 chemical substances, endosulfan and hexabromocyclododecane, are designated as “Class I Specified Chemical Substances” under the Chemical Substances Control Law (CSCL). Companies must obtain permission from METI prior to manufacture and import.
| Chemical Name | CAS No. |
| Endosulfan | 115-29-7 959-98-8 33213-65-9 |
| Hexabromocyclododecane | 25637-99-4 3194-55-6 4736-49-6 65701-47-5 134237-50-6 134237-51-7 134237-52-8 138257-17-7 138257-18-8 138257-19-9 169102-57-2 678970-15-5 678970-16-6 678970-17-7 |
The “Class I Specified Chemical Substances” refer to those that are persistent, highly bio-accumulative and have long-term toxicity risk to human beings and animals at higher trophic level. The two substances are persistent organic pollutants (POPs) listed under the Stockholm Convention.
Japan CSCL governs both existing and new chemicals. There are several types of chemical lists under the CSCL, classified according to the toxicity property of substances, such as Priority Assessment Chemical Substances, Monitoring Chemical Substances, Specified Chemical Substances, etc. Those lists are searchable though Japan Chemical Collaborative Knowledge Database (J-CHECK).
