NICNAS (National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme) often receives enquiries from people interested in finding out which chemicals are 'banned' or restricted in Australia. The main focus at NICNAS is on industrial chemicals—although we do provide some information about other chemicals. People often assume that chemicals are either 'allowed' or 'banned' and that there are easily accessible lists of banned chemicals. In fact the controls imposed by governments on chemicals are rather more complex and usually take into account the way in which the chemical is used.

In Australia the different categories of chemical use are covered by four major Commonwealth schemes of registration and assessment. These are NICNAS (industrial chemicals), the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicine Authority—APVMA (pesticides and veterinary products), the Therapeutic Goods Administration—TGA (medicines and medicinal products), and Food Standards Australia and New Zealand—FSANZ (food additives and contaminants).

In addition, other agencies control chemicals at various stages of their lifecycles or where there are particular hazards. These other areas of control include transport and storage, occupational health and safety, environmental management, public health and waste management.

Most restrictions on chemicals in Australia are contained in state and territory legislation although they may reflect codes of practice developed at a national level. This helps to make controls more uniform throughout Australia.

Some other chemical controls result from the listing of particular chemicals under international Conventions, for example the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

There is no single list of banned chemicals, but there are a number of useful sources of information about restrictions on chemicals:

• Hazardous chemicals - Many chemicals are hazardous but they can still be used if appropriate controls are in place. Some chemicals are just too dangerous to use and have been phased out. These include polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and the mineral asbestos.
• Listing of chemicals - For many types of chemicals, only those on a specified list are permitted. For instance, only chemicals on the NICNAS Australian Inventory of Chemical Substances (AICS) can be imported or manufactured for industrial use in Australia. If it is not listed on the AICS, a chemical may need to be notified as a new chemical before it can be introduced into Australia for industrial use. 
• Import / Export - Australian Customs and Border Protection Service
• Workplace - Safe Work Australia (SWA) - National Code of Practice—Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace - Safe Work Australia website. A link to The Hazardous Substances Information System (HSIS)
• Public health: Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Medicines and Poisons (SUSMP—Poisons Standard) - TGA website
• Transport - Australian Code for the Transport of Dangerous Goods by Road and Rail
• International conventions - Vienna Convention for the protection of the Ozone Layer - Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1989 - Stockholm Convention - Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent - Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1989 - Chemical Weapons Convention - Chemical Weapons (Prohibition) Act 1994

Related link:

• Source: Australian Government | Department of Health
• Australian regulatory partners