Compliance: Russia Creates New Chemical Inventory

A relatively new global chemical inventory program underway in the Russian Federation merits the awareness of Chemical Processing readers. This column explains why it is important.

Background

The Russian Federation issued in final the Technical Regulation on the Safety of Chemical Products (TRSCP; Decree No. 1019) in October 2016. The TRSCP helps establish a framework for the regulation of industrial chemical substances. Its implementation created a chemical inventory, similar to other global inventories found in chemical management programs elsewhere, to include chemicals and mixtures in commerce and those intended for commercialization in the territory of the Russian Federation.

Suitable entities must submit inventory information online to the Russian Federation’s Governmental Industry Information Exchange Platform (GISP), which opened for submittal of substance information in November 2019. The initial submission deadline of January 1, 2020, has been extended to July 1, 2020. Whether it will be extended again in light of the pandemic is unclear.

Information requirements include:

• Chemical identification information, including IUPAC name, synonyms, and molecular and structural formula;
• Use information;
• Volume as a three-year average or planned deliveries;
• Hazard classification according to Russian Gosudarstvennyy Standart (GOST) classification standards; and
• Certain company data.

Some data elements are only required if available. An in-country legal entity must submit the information in the Russian language; a company without a legal entity in Russia can appoint an in-country authorized representative (AR) to submit information on its behalf and cover importation by its customers into Russia. The appointment of an AR and timely submission allow a non-Russian company to maintain an uninterrupted supply chain and support its Russian customers.

The TRSCP closely parallels the implementation dates in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) Technical Regulation (TR) EAEU 041/2017, sometimes referred to as the EAEU REACH program. This regulation, finalized in 2017, established a regional chemical management framework. Member countries of the EAEU include Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the Russian Federation.

The implementation date for the EAEU chemicals framework is June 1, 2021, and includes the registration of mixtures as well as substances. Each member state is to develop an inventory of the chemicals in commerce in its country by January 1, 2021, which then will be consolidated into a regional inventory by June 1, 2021. The regulation provides for late nominations to the inventory until June 1, 2023, for substances or mixtures on the market prior to June 1, 2021. The Russian regulation is expected to be rescinded when the EAEU sub-regulations are implemented.

Implications

Entities exporting products to the Russian market should nominate their chemical substances and mixtures to the Russian chemical inventory to ensure continued market access and avoid the requirement to submit a new chemical registration after the inventory nomination process closes. As sophisticated chemical stakeholders know all too well, failure to adhere to these inventory requirements can invite commercially disastrous consequences. Chemicals submitted to the Russian and other member state inventories will form the basis for the inventory of chemical substances and mixtures of the EAEU.

Businesses are urged now to work with value chain entities and local businesses in the Russian Federation or arrange to appoint a qualified AR to obtain support in the Russian Federation to ensure regulatory compliance and business success Taking care now to nominate chemicals to the inventory will avoid business disruption.