30 January, 2020
The CSCL (Chemical Substances Control Law, or CSCL) amendment to list PFOA as Class 1 Specified Chemical Substances and additional measures taken together with this designation.
On 24 July 2019, the Advisory Committee for the Evaluation of Chemical Substances (the Advisory Committee) to the Minister of Environment responded to the consultatory from the Minister of Environment, saying that Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts and PFOA-related compounds should be designated as Class 1 Specified Chemical Substances. On 20 September 2019, the Advisory Committee further responded that certain additional measures should be taken in combination with the designation of Perfluorooctanoic acid, its salts and PFOA-related compounds as Class 1 Specified Chemical Substances.
Such additional measures include:
- The designation of specific use for which PFOA can be used (i.e., PFOA can only be used for certain medical use); and
- The designation of products that contain PFOA and its salts or PFOA related compounds which are banned from being imported.
The tentative schedule currently announced by the Ministry of Environment (MOE) is as follows:
April 2020
- The designation of PFOA as Class 1 Specified Chemical Substance (i.e., the prohibition of manufacturing and import of PFOA will come into force).
- The designation of specific use for which PFOA can be used (i.e., PFOA can be used only for certain medical use).
October 2020
- The designation of products that contain PFOA and its salts or PFOA related compounds which are banned from being imported.
This announcement is available here.
Change to the tentative schedule of the date of designation
It is expected that the enforcement date of designation will be postponed from the original April 2020 date, while it needs to be officially approved at the meeting of the Advisory Committee to be held on 16 January 2020.
Given that preparation at a number of companies handling products containing PFOA-related chemical substances may not be completed by April 2020, it is likely the government decided to postpone the enforcement date to avoid many companies violating the new regulations.
The postponed period could be a few months as such postponement must provide companies a reasonable period of time to prepare the new regulations (i.e., completing cessation of use of PFOA), but the exact time line has not yet been disclosed.
Even though there is a possibility that the schedule will be further postponed if circumstances require, PFOA will be designated as Class 1 Special Chemical Substance by 3 December 2020 at the latest.
For further information, please contact:
Kana Itabashi, Baker & McKenzie GJBJ Tokyo Aoyama Aoki Koma Law Office
Kana,itabashi@bakermckenzie.com
