NATIONAL PROFILE on Chemicals Management - UNITAR

egulations (under the jurisdictions of the Ministry ofHealth, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), the Ministry ofAgriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), the Ministry ofEconomy, Trade and Industry (METI), and the Ministry ofthe Environment (MOE)) for chemical management,procedures based on these laws and regulations, responsesto conventions and examples of measures other than lawsand regulations.- As for frameworks other than laws and regulations, thischapter introduces voluntary activities by industries suchas, Responsible Care programme, voluntary managementplans by businesses regarding reduction of hazardous airpollutants.CHAPTER 5 provides a general overview of mandates of therelated divisions and offices of the Ministry of Health,Labour and Welfare (MHLW), the Ministry of Agriculture,Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), the Ministry of Economy,Trade and Industry (METI) and the Ministry of theEnvironment (MOE), as well as the services of incorporatedadministrative agencies.CHAPTER 6 provides a general overview of activities bychemical industry associations, public organisations andresearch institutes.CHAPTER 7 provides a general overview of thecoordination and cooperation structure among ministriesand agencies, etc.- Various inter-ministerial meetings, etc. have beenestablished in order to effectively and efficiently promotevaried measures regarding chemical substances.- As for frameworks to obtain opinions from experts andinformation from private organisations, etc., advisorycouncils are being established by government institutions,and there are also public comment procedures invitingpublic opinion.CHAPTER 8 provides a general overview of the access todata and their utilisation.- The relevant data is available through databases managedby governmental institutions, public organisations, etc. aswell as the homepages of relevant ministries. A large partof these data are accessible via the Internet. However,some of them are only available in Japanese.- A large number of international documents such asEnvironmental Health Criteria (EHC), ConciseInternational Chemical Assessment Documents (CICAD)can be accessed via the Internet. Part of these is availablein Japanese.- International databases such as ILO/CIS are available viathe Internet.CHAPTER 9 provides a general overview of thetechnological infrastructure.- As for research infrastructure, the National Institute ofHealth Sciences (NIHS) and the National Institute ofAdvanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) areintroduced among others.- The government is actively promoting thecomputerisation of administration, and undertakescomputerisation of the notification of new chemicals basedon the Law Concerning the Evaluation of ChemicalSubstances and Regulation of Their Manufacture, etc.;registration of business establishments handling orimporting poisonous and deleterious substances based onthe Poisonous and Deleterious Substances Control Law,and notification by businesses regarding amounts ofemission and transfer based on the Law ConcerningReporting, etc. of Releases to the Environment of SpecificChemical Substances and Promoting Improvements inTheir Management.- As for training and education programmes, training forofficials in charge of implementing the Law ConcerningReporting, etc. of Releases to the Environment of SpecificX