On 5 Dec 2013, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) published an annual report regarding implementation of the Chemical Substances Control Law (CSCL) in 2012.
The report consists of 4 chapters, covering information related to both new and existing chemical substances.
The 4 chapters are listed as follows:
Overview of the CSCL system;
Prior evaluation and confirmation of new chemical substances;
Ongoing post-market risk assessment for chemical substances
CSCL implementation status for monitoring chemical substances and Class II specified chemical substances
According to the report, there were 702 dossiers for new chemical substance notification and evaluation submitted in 2012. Among which, 181 dossiers concerned paint/surface coating and 130 related to electrical/electronic materials, accounting for 25.8% and 18.5% of the total cases respectively.
33,068 dossiers of prior confirmation (*prior confirmation: a regulatory prerequisite under Japanese legislation whereby specific categories of chemicals have reduced notification requirements imposed on them due to low risk or low volume) were submitted to the METI. The specific notification types comprised 31,672 dossiers for small amount new chemical substances, 1316 dossiers for low volume new chemical substances and 80 dossiers concerning polymers of low concern. Japan CSCL requires prior confirmation for four different types of new chemical substances: 1) Substances falling into a tonnage band lower than 1 ton/year, 2) substances that are low in bioaccumulation and in tonnage band 10 ton/year, 3) polymers of low concern and 4) substances specified by cabinet order.
Regarding general chemical substances notification, 29,938 dossiers were submitted by 1,406 companies concerning 7,067 chemical substances. From the 1,049 dossiers of priority assessment notification lodged by 402 companies, 44 chemical substances were designated as Priority Assessment Chemical Substances (PACs).
Japan began enforcement of the CSCL in 1973 with the primary function of managing industrial chemical substances. The law has been amended three times and the latest amendment was made in 2009.
