McEldowney, Sharron --- "Sustainable chemical regulation in a global environment" [2017] ELECD 1051; in Tan, Celine; Faundez, Julio (eds), "Natural Resources and Sustainable Development" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 257

Book Title: Natural Resources and Sustainable Development

Editor(s): Tan, Celine; Faundez, Julio

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781783478378

Section: Chapter 13

Section Title: Sustainable chemical regulation in a global environment

Author(s): McEldowney, Sharron

Number of pages: 21

Abstract/Description:

The globalization and unintended impacts of chemicals sets substantial challenges for sustainable development and the protection of natural resources such as land and water. Currently, there are three key chemical Conventions: the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal which came into force in 1992; the 1993 Rotterdam Convention on Trade in Dangerous Chemicals; and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) (2004). These Conventions have as common features a mechanism for assessment of chemical safety, a process for the addition of new chemicals to a list of controlled substances and capacity-building in developed countries. However, they cover only a small fraction of the chemicals manufactured and traded across the world. Defining effective regulation of chemicals is an on-going debate that has the potential to have a significant impact on vested commercial and political interests. A sustainable chemical industry should take account of evidence-based standards and through legal mechanisms adopt long-term precautionary evaluations rather than short-term market-driven decisions. It is argued in this chapter that effective international chemical regulation in the future will come from the adoption of sound chemical management and corporate social responsibility, but it recognizes that this will face the challenge of economic disparity between countries and the potential export of regulatory risk from big chemical conglomerates to poorly regulated jurisdictions. Keywords: chemicals regulation; international environmental law; corporate social responsibility; precautionary approach; sustainable development; transboundary chemical and hazardous waste regulation