Australia proposes four bromine-based flame retardants in IChEMS

Since September 25, 2023, the Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water has been soliciting public comments on a draft decision to add four bromine-based flame retardants to Schedule 6 and Schedule 7 of the Industrial Chemicals Environmental Management Standard (IChEMS). The deadline is October 25, 2023.

The targeted substances are decaBDE, octaBDE, pentaBDE, and HBCDD, which are registered in the Stockholm Convention as persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The substances in Schedule 7 are prohibited from being manufactured, used, imported or exported within Australia as industrial chemicals that may cause serious or irreversible damage to the environment. The substances in Schedule 6 are prohibited except for essential uses, which also have deadlines and require strict management. The effective date is July 1, 2025 for decaBDE and July 1, 2024 for the other three substances.