Global Chemical Industry welcomes SAICAM process

The International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) welcomes the initiation today in Bangkok of a multistakeholder process to develop a "strategic approach to international chemicals management" or "SAICM". The discussions now commencing are to culminate in an international conference around the end of 2005.

ICCA fully supports SAICM's central aim that chemicals should be manufactured, used and managed safely at the international level in an efficient and cost-effective manner. It is pleased to be among the participants in the process, and has a number of ideas that it believes will contribute towards the attainment of this aim.

The first step in developing a global strategy is the identification of what has already been developed, the status of enforcement, identification of synergies for accelerating implementation and what the real deficits are. An analysis conducted by ICCA points in the direction of better use of synergies between international organisations and existing national regional and global initiatives.

SAICM should focus on bridging the gap between developed and developing countries. Chemicals policy must become a building block of public policy, thus forming a partnership between all stakeholders, governments, business and civil society, and in a broader sense between developed and developing countries. Capacity building - in the sense of building infrastructure, promoting and supporting education and training for using best available technologies and handling chemicals safety - should therefore be a key element of the SAICM strategy.

SAICM should, moreover, build on and strengthen existing chemical industry voluntary initiatives at national, regional and global level. Experience gained from implementing Responsible Care in a wide range of countries puts the chemical industry in a rather unique position to contribute to the development of a SAICM that will be implemented globally - not just in the most developed countries. Additional elements for further developing SAICM are the industry's Product Stewardship programmes and other industry voluntary initiatives such as the High Production Volume Chemicals (HPV) initiative, and the Long-range Research Initiative (LRI).

These ideas are also outlined in the 2001 ICCA position on Global Chemicals Management, which represents the cornerstone of ICCA's policy on global chemicals management.

ICCA intends to participate constructively in forging a SAICM that will result in safer management of chemicals worldwide.