Open Letter to Stakeholders of Chemicals Regulations in China and Partner Countries in Asia

CIRS is proud to announce that Asian Helsinki Chemical Forum (HCF) Conference and Summit Meeting on Chemical Regulations in Asia Pacific (SMCR 2019) will be held as a merged conference in Shanghai on 24-25 October 2019. The Asian HCF conference will be a shorter version of the 2019 HCF taking place in Helsinki on 23-24 May. As a partner of HCF, CIRS will cooperate with HCF to hold the Asian HCF Conference in 2019.

Helsinki Chemicals Forum (HCF) is an independent forum aimed at promoting chemicals safety and chemicals management globally. The conference is built around high-profile panels and keynote presentations as well as related debates.

The Summit Meeting on Chemical Regulations in Asia Pacific (SMCR) is regarded as the leading summit in China to communicate the development of chemical regulations in the Asia Pacific region. The previous Summit Meetings were held from 2011 to 2017, and have received active support from the competent authorities on chemicals from China, Japan and Korea.

The panel topics and speakers of the 2019 HCF Conference in Helsinki were selected with the help of the HCF Programme Committee, which has representatives from the different stakeholders – regulators, industry, NGOs – from the most developed countries having chemicals regulations in place for many decades. The 2019 programme of the Helsinki Conference can be found on the HCF website (www.helsinkicf.eu). The topics for discussion in the Shanghai HCF Conference will be taken from the Helsinki programme. Yet, the composition of the panels and the audience will be different so that the content and conclusions that can be reached will be unique to the Asian context. The Asian HCF conference will have same pattern with HCF conference which each discussion consists of one moderator and four speakers. The discussion topics of Asia HCF conference have been decided temporarily. There are: grouping of chemical substances and how to avoid regrettable substitution; how to measure the performance of different chemical management systems; plastics and circularity – from pollution to a value based proposition for all.

In order to achieve a mature level of discussion, it would be highly appreciated that the competent regulatory authorities, the chemicals and metals industry associations and the relevant NGOs from China, Japan and Korea would participate in the conference. CIRS will also invite representatives of the stakeholders from other Asian countries and of course a large group of companies operating in Asia. This high-level event will be a major networking opportunity for stakeholders in chemicals regulations in Asia and the rest of the world.

The chemistry departments of the United Nations and the OECD, partners of HCF, have agreed to also support the organisation of the Asian HCF. The European Commission, ECHA, the regulators of USA, Canada and Australia who are equally partners in HCF will also be invited to join the Asian HCF. Equally, the industry associations of these countries and the NGOs active on chemicals at international level will also be invited. In addition, the media partner of HCF, Chemical Watch, is also committed to support the event in Shanghai in marketing and reporting on the event.

CIRS has been develop a websection for this event on its own website for the publicity, registration and reporting of the conference.The registration will open in June 2019.

HCF&SMCR 2019 website: http://smcr.jianzaoshiwang.cn/hcf&smcr