Standing Committee on Chemicals 

On 7 December 2009, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on chemicals and plastics, which established a new national governance framework to help achieve a streamlined and harmonised national regulatory system and ultimately reduce the regulatory burden on business. The Standing Committee on Chemicals (the Committee) is part of the new governance framework. The Committee is responsible to COAG and will usually report through the Business Regulation and Competition Working Group (BRCWG).

These web pages aim to provide stakeholders with information and access to key documents relating to chemicals regulatory activities together with information on the outcomes from Committee meetings.

The Committee members include:

1. Commonwealth official nominated by the Prime Minister, or the Prime Minister's nominated delegate, to chair the Committee
   
2. one official from each of the following Commonwealth Government departments or their successor organisations:
   • The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
   • The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
   • The Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
   • The Department of Health and Ageing
   • The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government
   • The Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research
     
3. one official, nominated by the States and Territories, to represent each of the following ministerial councils:
   • The Australian Health Ministers’ Conference
   • The Australian Transport Council
   • The Environment Protection and Heritage Council
   • The Primary Industries Ministerial Council
   • The Workplace Relations Ministers’ Council.

The Committee’s role is to:

• Co-ordinate the implementation of the new governance framework for the regulation of chemicals and plastics
• Monitor the timeliness, effectiveness and consistency of reforms of chemicals and plastics regulation
• Provide advice and make recommendations as appropriate to BRCWG, COAG and relevant ministerial councils on how chemicals and plastics policy initiatives that have cross-portfolio or cross-jurisdictional implications might be best progressed
• Provide an ongoing forum for assessing the consistency of chemicals-specific policy settings across the relevant policy areas, including: public health; workplace health and safety; transport safety; environment protection; and national security
• Oversee a coordinated national approach to regulatory reform of chemicals and plastics and the consistent application of chemical hazard and risk-assessment methodologies and international standards such as the Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals
• Support the coordinated development of regulatory proposals that have cross-portfolio implications, including the conduct of regulatory impact assessments.

The Secretariat to the Committee can be contacted via email scocsecretariat@innovation.gov.au.