Recently, the Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme (AICIS) issued a consultation notice on its official website, planning to directly link approximately 700 substance assessment reports under the former National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS) to the Australian Inventory of Industrial Chemicals (AIIC).

It is worth noting that NICNAS has been officially replaced by AICIS since July 1, 2020.

Consultation Content

AICIS stated that in order to help introducers more conveniently inquire about the assessment information of substances in the inventory, so as to accurately determine whether their introduction activities need to comply with the obligations of the Specific Information Requirement (SIR), AICIS plans to directly link some assessment reports under NICNAS to the inventory.

For substances in the inventory that are subject to SIR obligations, this measure will greatly improve the efficiency of inquiries. At the same time, AICIS promises to strictly protect confidential information, such as chemical names and CAS numbers that have been applied for confidentiality, will never be disclosed to the public.

Specific Information Requirement

A specific information requirement (SIR) is an Inventory term of listing, which was formerly the secondary notification obligation under NICNAS.

Only around 10% of the chemicals on the Inventory have a SIR term of listing, which have all completed risk assessments under NICNAS or AICIS

The purpose of the SIR is to ensure that AICIS is given information that may indicate a new or increased risk associated with a chemical introduction, so that AICIS can decide whether the substance needs to be re-evaluated.

Example of substance with SIR obligations in the AIIC

SIR Obligations

For listed substances with SIR obligations, introducers need to compare their introduction conditions with the assessment conditions in the original assessment report before introducing such substances to confirm whether their introduction situation falls within the scope of the specified SIR obligations.

If it is confirmed to be within the scope of SIR obligations, the corresponding introduction information must be submitted to AICIS before manufacturing or importing these chemicals into Australia.

Therefore, to accurately determine SIR obligations, the corresponding assessment report for the substance must be found first. However, due to regulatory changes, the assessment reports under NICNAS have not been linked to the AIIC, leading to additional assessment report retrieval work.

This proposal applies to about 700 chemicals on the Inventory that have the chemical’s CAS number and/or chemical name included in the NICNAS assessment reports.

For each of these chemical records, AICIS proposes to add a link to its NICNAS report, so that users can open the document directly from the Inventory chemical record, without the need to undertake a separate assessment search.

To maintain existing information protections, if a NICNAS report does not contain a CAS number or chemical name, AICIS would not link it to any Inventory chemical record.

Polymer of Low Concern

In addition, for substances assessed as Polymers of Low Concern (PLC) by NICNAS, only about 15 assessment reports are proposed to be linked to the inventory. For most chemicals that NICNAS assessed as a PLC, AICIS would not add report links in chemical records.

This is primarily because for most chemicals assessed as PLCs under NICNAS, the SIR only applies if the polymer will be introduced in a form that does not meet our PLC criteria.

In this situation, the introducer or their chemical supplier do not need to view the NICNAS report. Instead, they should to re-determine the introduction category based on the PLC criteria.

Follow-Up Process

In the future, AICIS will continue to implement a series of chemical record improvements , which aim to make it easier for users to understand and access the information that they need.

The deadline for this public consultation is April 23, 2025. If this proposal proceeds, AICIS will add links to NICNAS reports from online Inventory chemical records in mid-2025.

How REACH24H Can Help

REACH24H recommends that relevant companies closely monitor regulatory developments and submit relevant opinions and suggestions in a timely manner.

If you have any questions regarding chemical compliance in Australia, please feel free to contact us.

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