According to insider sources, India’s Chemicals (Management & Safety) Rules (CMSR), which is dubbed “India REACH” will be notified to the WTO in May or June and took effect in August this year.

CMSR has been drafted for years and its fifth draft was issued in August 2020 (CL news). The legislation slowed down last year due to Covid-19. The industry also voiced their strong wishes to postpone its implementation since they need more time to recover from the impact of the unprecedented epidemic.

ChemLinked learned from the authority that the CMSR now turns into a highly prioritized legislation task. Several discussions are going on to speed up its legislation this year. In addition, the IT system for dossier preparation and submission is under development, which is similar to IUCLID under EU REACH. “SIEF-like” functions will be incorporated to help find co-registrants for joint registration. As planned, CMSR will be notified to the WTO in May or June for a 60-day consultation and the IT system be released during this period.

Compared with the fifth draft, there may be no big differences in requirements regarding notification, registration, restriction and prohibition, labeling and packaging requirements of chemicals, as well as extended requirements for hazardous chemicals in terms of storage, transport, emergency response, safety audit, etc. Foreign enterprises can appoint an Authorized Representative (AR, similar to an Only Representative under EU REACH) to fulfill compliance requirements.

As we learned, the major updates may relate to staffing issues and administrative fees. As previously proposed, a new authority named National Chemical Authority will be established, consisting of the Steering Committee, the Scientific Committee, Risk Assessment Committee and the Chemical Regulatory Division. The configuration and staffing issues will be adjusted in the final version due to the epidemic. In addition, the administrative fees previously drafted will be reduced to ease the financial burden of enterprises.