Brazil moves closer to chemical management system

The country is now a party to the Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Minamata Conventions, which means the country has to take steps to govern its chemicals more meticulously.

Although the current regulations in place in the country do govern many substances used in cosmetics and personal care, the new system will broaden the regulations through greater risk assessment and management.

Comprehensive legal framework​

The new updates to the regulation aim to provide a legal framework for the use, import, export and of all chemical substance, including those for industrial use.

Currently the country has no official inventory of industrial of industrial chemicals for the national market, so the new measures will aim to have a solid system in place by the end of 2019.

This will be created through a comprehensive draft law backed by the government that will require all providers of such chemicals to make records with the newly formed national register, or else face stiff fines for no-compliance.

Law should be in place by end of 2019​

Currently that draft law is waiting to be approved by the national congress, with the aim of implementing in full by the end of the year.               

In recent years Brazilian chemicals industry has grown significantly, thanks to both the development of domestic players, as well as multinationals like IFF and BASF moving in on the market.

Chemyunion is currently one of the biggest domestic players in the fine chemicals market, and has expended its Sao Paulo production facility with a particular emphasis on the development of cosmetics and personal care products.

At a national level the chemicals industry is said to contribute around 2.5% of the national gross domestic product (GDP), providing 2 million direct and indirect jobs, according to figures from the UN Environment organization.