The United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, has published an international guide for chemicals control. The guidance will assist in the global chemicals strategy, SAICM, and was developed in cooperation with the Swedish Chemicals Agency, among others.
The LIRA Guidance aims to provide support to national chemicals management policymakers to strengthen national legislation and institutional set-ups for achieving sound management of chemicals, including measures for financing necessary administrative supports.
– This is the first international document which is a clear attempt to answer the questions: What is chemical control? What are the components included and what is needed for preventive chemical control? No such guidance has been available before, says Maria Delvin, at the Swedish Chemicals Agency.
The guidance will make it easier for countries to meet the SAICM target that chemicals by the year 2020 will be produced and used in such a way that adverse effects on human health and the environment is as limited as possible.
The Guidance is now being tested in several countries, for example in Uruguay and Nigeria.
When the pilot projects have been evaluated, the guidance will eventually become a more formal UN document, in a package of several UN documents, all relating to the implementation of the global chemicals strategy, SAICM.
– This is a document that can still be updated, and it has now been published on the UNEP website. We believe that the Guidance can be very useful for countries wishing to develop chemical control and we are very pleased with the results so far, says Ingela Andersson, Director of the International Secretariat at the Swedish Chemicals Agency.
Read more and retrieve the LIRA Guidance
UNEP Guidance on the Development of Legal and Institutional Infrastructures for Sound Management of Chemicals and Measures for Recovering Costs of National Administration (LIRA-Guidance).
