US govt, industry team on global chem regulation

26 September 2006 22:58  [Source: ICIS news]

GAITHERSBURG, Maryland (ICIS news)--Government and industry representatives warned on Tuesday that US manufacturers must combine forces to deal with emerging chemical regulatory issues worldwide that threaten US jobs and competitiveness.

In the first of what is likely to become a series of government and private sector meetings, officials of the National Institute of Standards & Technology met with representatives of automotive, aviation, electronics and chemical manufacturing, among others, to develop a strategy for dealing with increasing global regulation of chemicals.

Hratch Semerjian, chief scientist at the institute, said that the growing body of chemical regulatory programs, chiefly in Europe but increasingly in Asia and elsewhere, “represent a huge cost impact for US manufacturing in multiple markets and effectively serve as barriers to trade.”

“Manufacturers of industrial chemicals are already well aware of the growing restrictions that face their products globally,” Semerjian said. “But the impact of emerging chemical regulatory issues affects all manufacturing downstream of chemicals production.”

He cited the European Union’s registration, evaluation and authorization of chemicals (Reach) as only the most obvious developing regulatory programme that threatens US manufacturing.

“It is a question of market access,” Semerjian said, arguing that US manufacturers lack an early warning system that will allow US scientific and policy influences to affect future international regulatory developments. “It seems like we’re always playing catch-up, that we’re always one step behind” foreign regulatory developments, he said.

He called for a new coalition of government and manufacturing interests from across all sectors for information sharing and advocacy. He warned that US jobs and global competitiveness for US industry are at stake.

The two-day meeting at the institute is expected to conclude on Wednesday with formation of an action plan.

Headquartered in Gaithersburg, the National Institute of Standards & Technology is the federal agency charged with promoting US innovation and industrial competitiveness.

By: Joe Kamalick
+1 713 525 2653

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