Saving Costs in Chemicals Management How the OECD Ensures Benefits to Society: How the OECD Ensures Benefits to Society

The chemical industry is one of the largest industrial sectors in the world and is expected to grow fourfold by 2060. Indeed modern life without chemicals would be inconceivable. Given the potential environmental and human health risks from exposure to chemicals, governments and industry have a major responsibility to ensure that chemicals are produced and used safely. The OECD assists countries in developing and implementing policies and instruments that protect human health and the environment, and in making their systems for managing chemicals as efficient as possible. To eliminate duplication of work and avoid non-tariff barriers to trade, emphasis has been on developing shared frameworks for gathering and assessing information on potential chemical risks. The time-tested OECD Mutual Acceptance of Data (MAD) system provides a major basis for generating savings to governments and industry. This report provides an overview of the benefits and estimates the total savings from OECD work to be more than EUR 309 million per year About the OECD Foreword Acknowledgements Acronyms and abbreviations Executive summary Key findings and conclusions 1. Introduction to the OECD Environment, Health and Safety Programme 1.1. Background 1.2. The chemical industry 1.3. Use of chemicals: Benefits to society but also potential risks to human health and the environment 1.4. Why governments work together to tackle the risks posed by chemicals 1.4.1. Impacts of a non-harmonised approach to chemical regulation and testing 1.4.2. Benefits of the OECD Environment, Health and Safety Programme 1.4.3. Harmonisation 1.4.4. Sharing the burden 1.4.5. Exchange of technical and policy information 1.4.6. International co-operation 1.4.7. Ensuring green growth 1.4.8. Contributing to sustainable development Notes References 2. Quantifying the costs and savings of the OECD Environment, Health and Safety Programme 2.1. Background 2.2. Quantifying the costs of the EHS Programme 2.2.1. Overall costs 2.3. Quantifying the savings from the EHS Programme 2.3.1. Assumptions 2.4. Reducing testing and repeat testing for new industrial chemicals 2.5. Reducing repeat testing for new pesticides 2.6. Harmonising industry dossiers for pesticides registration 2.7. Harmonising country review reports for pesticide registration 2.8. Reducing repeat testing for new biocides 2.9. Reducing testing and repeat testing for existing industrial chemicals Notes References 3. Non-quantifiable benefits of the Environment, Health and Safety Programme 3.1. Facilitating access to information on chemicals 3.2. Providing OECD Harmonised Templates 3.3. Ensuring the safety of manufactured nanomaterials 3.4. Harmonising biotechnology safety assessments 3.5. Providing harmonised tools to identify endocrine disrupters 3.6. Reducing the need for governmental inspections of test facilities in other countries 3.7. Enhancing hazard assessment methods 3.8. Facilitating the exchange of information on chemical accidents to support prevention, preparedness and response 3.9. Advancing harmonisation of biocides regulation 3.10. Reducing repeat testing for new pharmaceuticals 3.11. Counteracting the illegal trade of pesticides Notes References 4. Conclusions Notes Annex A. Responses from the survey of governments and industry Annex B. RPA analysis of the cost of testing and (Q)SARs based on data from the European Chemicals Agency’s Registration Database Annex C. Countries and regions used in this report