US manufacturers to map response to chemical regs

26 June 2007 00:07  [Source: ICIS news]

WASHINGTON (ICIS news)--A broad-based coalition of manufacturers will meet later this year to map out a response to growing international regulation of chemicals that could threaten the US position in global markets, coalition officials said on Monday.

 

The coalition brings together representatives of automotive, aviation and aerospace, electronics and computer industries, among others, who are concerned that increasing global regulation of chemicals - most notably the EU’s registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals (REACH) - puts US manufacturing at risk.

 

“We want to migrate our concern over this to wider segments of US industry and develop a coordinated response to deal with it,” said Nina McClelland, a board member at the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), which is sponsoring the coalition’s second annual meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, on 9-10 August.

 

US and global manufacturers “are facing mounting pressure from the expansion of domestic and foreign chemical controls and government regulatory programmes”, McClelland said.

 

She noted that as the EU moves forward with REACH implementation, which began 1 June, that far-reaching programme could spread to other trading sectors of the world and become a de facto standard for chemicals controls and product approval and selection.

 

“The threat is that we, US manufacturers, won’t be in the global marketplace if we are not in compliance” with REACH and other international regulatory plans, McClelland said.

 

She said the goal of the August conference, titled “Action and Reaction; Developing a sustainable approach to emerging chemical issues,” is to launch a collaborative initiative for standards and compliance guidance. 

 

The conference will feature a keynote address by John Marburger, the White House director of science and technology policy.

 

ANSI is a 90-year-old industry-funded body that oversees voluntary standards conformity and assessment systems.

By: Joe Kamalick
+1 713 525 2653

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