Legislation in force: |
Law No. 15.022
Brazil “REACH” is now a LAW!
📢 Law 15.022, published today (15/Nov/2024), is Brazil’s Hashtag#REACH-inspired framework chemical management law.
‼️ Almost a decade in development, the new law will mark a sea change in chemical regulation in the country – and set an important precedent for countries in Hashtag#LatinAmerica considering similar concepts.
What does it all mean❓
➡️ Under the new law, Brazil will require manufacturers and importers of non-exempt chemicals produced or imported in quantities over 1 ton per year to register them in a brand-new registration system so that the country can then prioritize chemicals of concern, conduct risk assessments, and ultimately impose risk management measures.
The new law still needs some regulatory infrastructure to be fully operational:
➡️New Committees
The government will create the Technical Committee for the Evaluation of Chemical Substances and the Deliberative Committee for Chemical Substances, new entities that carry out different roles under the new system.
➡️ Implementing Regulation
Government has 180 days from now to issue an important implementing regulation that fleshes out details left open in the law. Officials recently announced that a Working Group will be formed at the next meeting of Brazil’s exemplary interdisciplinary, multistakeholder chemical group, CONASQ, to develop that draft. It’s worth noting that CONASQ was the group that developed the original text of the new law.
➡️Registration Platform
The law gives the government up to three years from now to develop the IT for the new registration platform. Officials recently announced that they are already beginning work on the consultancy that will create the new system – and it could be ready a good bit sooner than the three year deadline.
📢 What does industry need to do now?
Start taking stock of what chemicals you export to Brazil or import into or produce in the country. Decide if your substances are in or out of scope based on the definitions and exemptions in the new law. Stay informed and begin to think about your registration strategy.
⏰ What's the timeline?
Companies will have three (3) years from the launch of the new online registration system to register their existing chemicals. That final registration deadline, therefore, is over three and up to six years out from today.
✔️ Brazil’s new law allows a foreign manufacturer to engage a local entity to act a their representative – the first real analog to the EU “Only Representative” in the region. This OR-style option will be an advantage over the other emerging systems in Chile, Colombia, and Peru for the foreign chemical manufacturer.
Brazil approved the text of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants through Legislative Decree No. 204 , of May 7, 2004, and promulgated the text of the Convention in 2005, via Decree No. 5,472 , of June 20, 2005. A National Implementation Plan NIP (Plano Nacional de Implementação) exists.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury was promulgated by the publication of Decree nº 9.470, of August 14, 2018.
The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure (PIC) Applied to Certain Pesticides and Hazardous Chemicals Subject to International Trade: Brazil signed the Convention in 1998 and approved its text through Legislative Decree No. 197, of May 7, 2004. The promulgation of the Rotterdam Convention in Brazil took place through Decree No. 5,360, of January 31, 2005 .
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