Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing, Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to have my speech on the second reading of this very important bill, the Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Amendment (Cosmetics) Bill 2007, incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

I rise today to speak on the Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Amendment (Cosmetics) Bill 2007.

This Bill amends the Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Act 1989 and provides legislative underpinning for the reform of cosmetic regulation in Australia, which has for the past several years been implemented on a on a limited, interim, administrative basis.

The proposed amendments to the Act are intended to:

• provide legislative underpinning for reforms to the regulation of cosmetics as part of the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS) Low Regulatory Concern Chemicals Reform Program, and
• make minor changes to the legislation to improve clarity, increase consistency in the legislation and address minor technical anomalies or unintended effects of the legislation.

Labor anticipates that this Bill will have favourable outcomes for consumers, industry and Government alike. We are particularly supportive of this Bill because legislative underpinning of the regulatory scheme for cosmetics will provide clarity for all involved in the cosmetics industry in Australia.

By way of background, the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS) is the Australian Government’s regulatory authority for industrial chemicals including domestic chemicals, personal care products and cosmetics. The Scheme was established in 1990 under the Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Act 1989 and is located within the Office of Chemical Safety in the Department of Health and Ageing.

NICNAS operates within a whole-of-government chemicals regulatory framework that consists of four assessment / registration schemes. In addition to the chemicals scheme operated by NICNAS, there are regulatory frameworks operated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration for medicines and medical devices; by the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) for food and food additives; and by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority for pesticides and veterinary medicines.

The overall aim of these regulatory structures is to provide for the health and safety of the Australian people whilst also protecting the environment.

NICNAS in particular works to encourage the safe and sustainable use of industrial chemicals, providing a national notification and assessment scheme that assesses both chemicals already in use, and chemicals new to Australia.

NICNAS assessment information is made widely available and assists state and territory OHS, public health and environmental agencies in the environmentally sound management of industrial chemicals. NICNAS assessments also provide risk and safety information to industry, workers and the public to promote greater awareness of the dangers of chemicals and advice on how to use them safely.

This Bill will amend the Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Act 1989 to extend the current regulatory scheme for industrial chemicals to the regulation of cosmetics, as administered by the Director of NICNAS.

Historically, cosmetics in Australia have been regulated within the Health and Ageing portfolio by both NICNAS and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). Under the Act as it currently stands, and reflecting the historical timing of the establishment of the respective regulatory agencies, a product is deemed a cosmetic if it is not a therapeutic good (medicine). This is determined with reference to claims about the product and its composition.

This approach for defining cosmetics by their exclusion as medicines has created a disconnect between Australian industries and some of Australia’s trading partners in this sector. This approach has also led to differential regulation of broadly similar products. Under the Act as it currently stands, products classified as cosmetics are regulated by NICNAS, and include an environmental assessment of chemicals in cosmetic products, while therapeutic goods came under the TGA’s regulatory umbrella and no environmental assessment is undertaken.

The move to reform the regulatory interface between cosmetics and therapeutic goods can be traced to the Australian Government’s November 2002 response to the Chemicals and Plastics Action Agenda, which included a commitment to consider and develop options for assessing and/or testing chemicals presenting low regulatory concern.

The NICNAS Low Regulatory Concern Chemicals Task Force was subsequently established to investigate the reform of the regulation of industrial chemicals of low regulatory concern. In acknowledgment of the particular regulatory challenges that cosmetics present, cosmetics were considered separately under this process, through the Low Regulatory Concern Chemicals (LRCC) Cosmetics Technical Working Group.

NICNAS and the TGA subsequently undertook an independent review of regulation of products at the cosmetic/therapeutic interface in 2004-05. A draft discussion paper, Review of the regulation of products at the interface between cosmetics and therapeutic goods, was published in March 2005 for public comment. Eighty-five written responses to this review were received from a wide range of stakeholders including representatives of industry, consumers, regulators, medical practitioners and healthcare interest groups. There was overwhelming support for the proposed reforms from a majority of respondents.

The Government’s response to the independent review was published on 1 November 2005 (the Regulation of Cosmetic Chemicals: Final Report and Recommendations) and the Cosmetic Reforms Implementation Working Group (IWG)—comprising community, industry and Government representatives—was established to finalise the NICNAS Cosmetic Guidelines.

The Cosmetic Guidelines consist of a set of “cascading” instruments which comprise:

• Criteria for Defining Cosmetics,
• a Table of Product Categories including mandated conditions to ensure compliance with performance or other standards as required, and
• a new mechanism for publicly identifying those chemicals that are prohibited or restricted for use in cosmetics in Australia.

The NICNAS Cosmetic Guidelines have provided the administrative basis for the interim regulation of some cosmetic products. According to the Explanatory Memorandum, permits have been issued by NICNAS which allow for the specified product to be regulated as a cosmetic under the interim arrangements, provided that the product complies with the NICNAS Cosmetic Guidelines. This arrangement has now been in place for 12 months and over 200 products are subject to the arrangements.

The Government has cited a number of reasons for now seeking legislative underpinning of these guidelines.

Firstly, these interim administrative arrangements have only applied to a limited set of cosmetics – for example, skin-whitening products and anti-ageing products have not been subject to compliance. According to the Explanatory Memorandum, the system has been difficult to properly enforce and there is currently no capacity to penalise companies for non-compliance. There is also no capacity to charge fees from the regulated companies for cosmetic permits issued under the interim administrative arrangements, which the Government has argued is not consistent with best practice.

This Bill therefore seeks to implement the reforms on a legislative rather than an administrative basis and to extend the reforms to additional types of cosmetics.

The Bill establishes a system of notification and assessment of industrial chemicals to protect health, safety and the environment, and to provide for registration of certain persons proposing to introduce industrial chemicals. It provides for the Minister to determine standards, by legislative instrument, for cosmetics imported into, or manufactured in, Australia – having regard to Australia’s international obligations.

As I said earlier, Labor supports this Bill.

The legislative rather than administrative underpinning of the NICNAS Cosmetics Guidelines will help to clarify the regulatory roles and responsibilities of NICNAS and the TGA with respect to cosmetic chemicals. The changes will increase the Government’s capacity to monitor and enforce compliance with the Guidelines and to take action in the event of non-compliance.

A legislative rather than administrative framework will also provide greater clarity and certainty for industry, helping to reduce inconsistencies in the level of regulation for cosmetic products and removing subsequent barriers to trade arising from regulation.

Most importantly, regulation of cosmetics by NICNAS ensures consumer confidence in cosmetic products. All products regulated as cosmetics by NICNAS will require full ingredients disclosure on the labels (not currently the case for products regulated as therapeutics by the TGA) and will include an environmental assessment of chemicals in the cosmetic products (again not involved in a TGA assessment).

Consumers can be assured that cosmetics are subject to NICNAS oversight in areas such as the protection of public health, occupational health and safety and the environment.

In summary, Labor is confident that this Bill will help all parties involved in the cosmetic industry to maintain confidence in NICNAS’ regulatory processes.