Australia Proposes to Add Several Chemicals to the IChEMS Register

SG 062/25

Australia has initiated a consultation on its proposed listing of six chemicals to the IChEMS Register. Comments are accepted until May 9, 2025.

In April 2025, Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) announced its proposed listing of six chemicals/groups of chemicals to the nation’s Industrial Chemicals Environment Management (Register) Instrument 2022 (IChEMS Register, Compilation No. 3, December 2024).

The proposed industrial chemicals/groups of chemicals are:

• 1,2-dibromoethane (CAS 106-93-4)
• 1,2-dichloroethane (CAS 107-06-2)
• Aryl sulfonate hydrotropes
• Decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE, CAS 84852-53-9 and chemicals containing a portion of DBDPE, such as CAS1092834-40-6)
• Mercury and its compounds (CAS 7439-97-6 and others)
• Methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT, CAS 12108-13-3)

DBDPE and mercury and its compounds will be assigned to Schedule 6 of the IChEMS Register, a category of industrial chemicals that are likely to cause serious or irreversible harm to the environment but are permitted for essential uses. These chemicals, as well as products containing them, will be prohibited from manufacture, import, use and export, with derogations allowed for unintentional trace contaminants (UTCs), time-limited essential uses and disposal, and for articles (products) already in use prior to the effective date of the decision.

Additionally, the proposal permits several time-limited essential uses for DBDPE in articles, including, but not limited to, automotive and transport applications until July 1, 2033, electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) applications until July 1, 2033, and buildings and constructions until July 1, 2033. Replacement parts for the aforementioned applications may be used until the end of the article’s service life or July 1, 2048, whichever comes first.

Highlights of the risk management measures in the scheduling of DBDPE and its uses are summarized in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. According to the proposed standard for DBDPE, the term manufacture refers to the synthesis or extraction of the chemical substance but does not include production of DBDPE-containing products or articles, which is defined as use.

Table 1. Proposed decisions for DBDPE

Table 2. Uses of DBDPE

The DCCEEW announcement also consults over the following chemicals that present a lower risk to the environment:

• 1,2-dibromoethane and MMT are proposed to be listed under Schedule 5 of the IChEMS Register, a category for chemicals that are likely to cause harm to the environment
• 1,2-dichloroethane is intended to be listed under Schedule 4 of the IChEMS Register, a category for chemicals that may cause harm to the environment
• Aryl sulfonate hydrotropes are suggested to be listed under Schedule 2 of the IChEMS Register, a category for chemicals that are unlikely to cause harm to the environment

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