Chemical Substance Management

The targets for 2020 agreed upon at the WSSD^*1 call for the worldwide and comprehensive management of chemical substances throughout the product life cycle, from development to manufacturing, use and disposal in order to minimize the significant adverse effects on human health and the environment caused by the manufacture and use of chemical substances. Since then, the laws and regulations in each country have become stricter, and our Company is taking action to comply with laws and regulations.

In September 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted at the U.N. Summit. They comprise 17 goals and 169 targets to be achieved by 2030 to create a sustainable world. Aiming to achieve the SDGs in 2030, the government of each country is taking action proactively. The Group (each of our plants and research institutes worldwide) is working on the SDGs through the management of chemicals carried out as part of our Responsible Care activities.

In terms of its management of chemical substances, the Group has a system in place for studying and reviewing chemical substance-related laws and regulations in Japan and throughout the world from the product development phase onward. We manage the chemical substances contained in products in order to comply with the laws of the countries where we operate and to minimize environmental impacts throughout product life cycles.

We are focusing on promoting the use of SDSs^*2 across the Group not only for disclosing information related to chemical substances under regulatory control in Japan and overseas, but also for disclosing relevant information voluntarily so as to improve the quality of the Group’s information disclosure practices. Particularly for the GHS^*3 system, we have introduced ExESS^*4 and offer SDS and labels that are compliant with the laws and regulations of 46 countries and territories, including Japan, in the official language of each. We are revising our SDSs to comply with Japan’s revised JIS and revised PRTR Act from April 2022, and are preparing for the addition of substances subject to the Industrial Safety and Health Act from next year onward.