SG 131/26
Australia proposes addition of 10 classes of industrial chemicals to the IChEMS Register.
On September 21, 2026, Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) opened a one-month consultation on proposals to assign 10 groups of industrial chemicals to the Industrial Chemicals Environmental Management (Register) Instrument 2022 (IChEMS Register, Compilation No. 5, June 2026)
The IChEMS Register places industrial chemicals in one of seven schedules based on their environmental risk, as set out in the IChEMS Principles.
What are the proposed requirements and effective dates?
The proposals include:
- Classifying two chemicals as Schedule 2, a category for chemicals that are unlikely to cause harm to the environment:
- Salicylic acid and its salts (effective July 1, 2027)
- Ethane, propane and butanes (July 1, 2027)
- Adding four chemicals to Schedule 3, a category for chemicals that have the potential to cause harm to the environment:
- Pentane, isopentane, and cyclopentane (July 1, 2027)
- Dehydroacetic acid (July 1, 2027)
- Fluorescent brightener 71 and related chemicals (July 1, 2027)
- Hexamine and related chemicals (July 1, 2027)
- Listing hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs) and hydrochlorofluoroolefins (HCFOs) to Schedule 4, a category for chemicals that may cause harm to the environment (July 1, 2027)
- Designating nonylphenols and nonylphenol ethoxylates to Schedule 5, a category for chemicals that are likely to cause harm to the environment (January 1, 2028)
- Assigning two classes of chemicals to Schedule 6, a category for chemicals that are likely to cause serious or irreversible harm to the environment with essential uses:
- Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs, January 1, 2028)
- Long-chain perfluorocarboxylic acids (LC PFCAs), their salts and related compounds, a group of chemicals used in a wide range of consumer and industrial products across the automotive, manufacturing, chemical, electronics, textile and personal care product industries (see Table 1 below for a summary of the proposed scheduling decision)
| Schedule 6 Chemicals | Scope | Requirement¹ | Proposed effective date |
| LC PFCAs, their salts and related compounds |
| Prohibited (manufacture, import, export and use) | January 1, 2028 |
| ≤ 0.025 mg/kg for each LC PFCA congener and their salts as unintentional trace contamination (UTC) (manufacture, import, export and use) ≤ 1 mg/kg for any individual LC PFCA-related compound or a combination of those compounds as UTC (manufacture, import, export and use) ≤ 1 mg/kg for the sum of all LC PFCA congeners and their salts as UTC in fluoroplastics or fluoroelastomers (manufacture, import, export and use) | ||
| ≤ 0.025 mg/kg for each LC PFCA congener and their salts as UTC (import, export and use) ≤ 1 mg/kg for any individual LC PFCA-related compound or a combination of those compounds as UTC (import, export and use) ≤ 1 mg/kg for the sum of all LC PFCA congeners and their salts as UTC in fluoroplastics or fluoroelastomers (import, export and use) | ||
| ¹Essential uses would be permitted until January 1, 2041 for: a) semiconductors in replacement parts for articles and combustion-engine-powered vessels and b) replacement parts for motor vehicles that are no longer in mass production. | |||
Table 1. Proposed Schedule 6 controls for LC PFCAs, their salts and related compounds
Who is impacted?
The proposals would affect stakeholders across multiple industries and supply chains, including manufacturers, users, importers and exporters of these industrial chemicals, as well as products that contain or are contaminated by them.
When is the deadline for comments?
Comments will be accepted until October 23, 2026.
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