Philippines clarifies Chemical Control Order for Cyanide 
The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of the Philippines signed EMB Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 2019-002 on March 26, 2019. This clarifies the requirements pertaining registration and importation clearance under Chemical Control Order (CCO) for Cyanide and Cyanide Compounds issued as DENR Administrative Order (DAO) No. 1997-39.
This MC can be viewed at the following URL (In case the hyperlink does not work, copy the following URL, and paste it into the address bar of your browser to access the page).
http://chemical.emb.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/EMB-MC-2019-002-Clarification-for-CCO-Cyanide.pdf
This MC shall take effect 15 days after its publication in a newspaper of general circulation and upon acknowledgement of receipt of a copy thereof by the Office of the National Administrative Register.
Responsibilities of importers, distributors, and end users
The main responsibilities stipulated in this MC are as follows.
- End users (that are not importers) shall have a Memorandum of Agreement with their distributors based on their annual requirements.
- Importers shall be allowed only to import equivalent quantity to amount of cyanide and cyanide compounds indicated in the Memorandum of Agreements with their distributors and end-users.
- Importation, distribution, purchase, and use of cyanide and cyanide compounds shall be reported in the quarterly Self-Monitoring Report (SMR) and in the eventual on-line tracking system.
- Importers, distributors, and end users shall ensure that their storage facilities have the necessary personal protective equipment, trained personnel, and chemical management plan.
- Importers, distributors, and end users shall ensure that Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC), discharge permit, permit to operate, hazardous wastes ID and all necessary environmental permits are readily available during monitoring.
- Distributors shall be required to purchase cyanide and cyanide compounds only from registered importers and to distribute only to registered end users.
- End-users shall dispose of expired and unused cyanide and cyanide compounds through registered Treatment Storage and Disposal facilities.
