Argentina’s Chemical Management Starts to Take Shape

Argentina is in the process of defining minimum standards for dealing with industrial chemicals. Elisa Coghlan, who is responsible for Argentinian chemicals management, told Chemical Watch that Argentina wants to proceed in stages. The first stage would involve the creation of a national directory of chemicals. In the following stage, a committee of experts would evaluate the risks posed by these chemicals and prioritize responses.

The Ministry for Environment and Sustainable Development (Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarollo Sustenable: MAyDS), or, more exactly, the Department for Chemical Substances and Products (D. de Sustancias y Productos Quimicos) is responsible for setting up chemical management. For a good overview, see the organizational chart of the ministry (all sites given here in Spanish only).

The legal context of the future law covers the following:

• Creation of a national chemical inventory
• Provisions for new chemicals and uses
• Creation of evaluation committees
• Clarity on risk assessment and risk management
• Provisions for dealing with confidential business information (CBI)
• Setting administrative fees, fines, and administrative sanctions for non-compliance

According to UN Environment, the Argentinian chemicals industry is the second-most important in Latin America, after Brazil. It contributes 12.3% of the gross national product and employs about 110,000, mostly in small and midsize companies.

KFT has served companies in South America for many years and is thoroughly familiar with the laws related to chemical compliance. Please contact us at reach@kft.de.