Legislation setting out a Brazilian national policy on industrial chemicals should be issued by the end of year, the country's environment ministry (MMA) said last week.
mechanisms and institutional arrangements needed to meet the policy’s goals. These will include:

• establishing a national chemicals inventory using information in official databases, such as
• those used in the EU and Canada;
• using the UN Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of classification and labelling for classifying
• chemicals in its inventory;
• creating a process which will allow industry to provide substance data to the government;
• focusing on substance prioritisation based on risk; and
• developing risk management measures

The first phase of the government’s work involved reviews, conducted in 2013, of the regulatory policies in the EU, Canada and China. It sought to identify elements that would best suit Brazil.

The establishment of the legislation means Brazil will have more systematic and stricter regulation on chemicals. Businesses should draft plans to avoid trade barriers.