Section 21 of the Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Act 1989 (the Act) allows for the introduction of new chemicals into Australia provided the chemicals meet certain requirements stipulated in subsections 21(4) and 21(6) of the Act. New chemicals which satisfy the requirements of subsections 21(4) and 21(6) are exempt from the notification requirements of the legislation. A summary of the exemption categories and their criteria for use is provided in Table 1.
Table 1 exemption categories
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Exemption description
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Criteria for use
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≤100 kg Cosmetic Exemption
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- Introduced quantity cannot exceed 100 kg in any 12 month period.
- Introducer must be satisfied that the chemical poses no unreasonable risk to the public, workers exposed to the chemical, or the environment.
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≤100 kg Non-Cosmetic Exemption
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- Chemical cannot be for cosmetic use.
- Introduced quantity cannot exceed 100 kg in any 12 month period.
- Introducer must be satisfied that the chemical poses no unreasonable risk to the public, workers exposed to the chemical, or the environment.
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≤1% Non-Hazardous Cosmetic Exemption
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- Chemical must be introduced in a finished cosmetic product at no greater than 1%.
- Chemical must be a non-hazardous chemical as defined by the Act.
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≤100 kg Research and Development Exemption
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- Introduced quantity cannot exceed 100 kg in any 12 month period.
- Chemical must be introduced solely for the purpose of research, development, and analysis.
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Polymer of Low Concern
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- Chemical introduced must be a polymer of low concern
- Introducer must ensure that the chemical meets the PLC requirements
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Transshipment Exemption
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- Chemical must remain under the control of Customs at all times before leaving Australia.
- Chemical must leave Australia within 30 days.
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Industrial chemical introducers are required to report to NICNAS every year on any chemical introduced under these exemption provisions (section 21AA). Reported information on these chemicals provided during 2019-20 has been collated and the following is a detailed summary of this information.
Number of chemicals introduced
A total of 15,379 new chemicals were reported during 2019-20 as being introduced under the exemption provisions during the previous registration year. This includes 5,054 chemicals reported as being introduced at up to 10 kg for which no chemical name or other details were provided. The distribution of fully reported chemicals among the six exemption categories is shown in Figure 1.
Use of chemicals introduced
Figure 1. Fully reported exempt chemical by category
Cosmetic chemicals represent 84% of all chemicals reported under the exemption provisions with 90% of these cosmetic chemicals being introduced under the <100kg cosmetic exemption category.
Of the chemicals for which full details were reported (identity and use category), Education, Research & Development, Printing, and Surface Coatings represent the most common non-cosmetic chemical use categories. These use categories account for 43% of all chemicals reported for non-cosmetic uses. The distribution of chemicals introduced under the non-cosmetic exemption provisions across various use categories is illustrated in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Industry distribution of non-cosmetic exempt chemicals
To reduce the burden on reporting introducers, the exact quantity of an introduced exempt chemical is not required. Introducers are however required to report a quantity range for each chemical (0-10 kg, >10-100 kg, >100 kg). The distribution of fully reported chemicals across these quantity ranges are provided in Table 2.
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Quantity description
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Number of chemicals
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Up to 10 kg
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9158
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>10-100 kg
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1106
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>100 kg (Transshipment or up to1% Cosmetic)
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16
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>100kg Polymer of Low Concern
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17
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>100 kg
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28
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Eighty-nine percent of all reported chemicals were introduced at quantities of 10 kg or less. 28 chemicals were reported as exceeding the 100 kg threshold in either the ≤100 kg cosmetic or non-cosmetic exemption category. Instances of non-compliance associated with these chemicals have been managed as self-reported non-compliance.
Chemicals not previously reported
Nine percent of reported chemicals were reported for the first time in 2019-20 based on chemicals for which a CAS number was provided.
Reporting organisations
A total of 279 organisations provided information on exempt category chemicals. A summary of the number of chemicals reported by these organisations is provided in Table 3.
Table 3. Number of chemicals reported per organisation
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Number of chemicals introduced under exemptions
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1 - 10
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11 - 20
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21-50
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51-100
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> 100
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Number of organisations
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152
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34
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44
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21
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28
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Fifty-four percent of reporting organisations reported ten or fewer chemicals being introduced under the exemption provisions. Ten percent of reporting organisations reported greater than 100 chemicals.
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