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Introduction
The USA issued was the first country to issue, in 1976 ,a general
chemicals law, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Since the
beginning of the eighties legal regulations on industrial
chemicals also exist in the member states of the European
Community (based on the 6th Amendment to Directive 67/548/EEC) l)
and in Japan. Other countries followed, e.g. Austria in 1987. In
the meantime Japan and Germany have already amended their laws.
The general principle of all these laws is the obligation of the
producer (or importer) of a new chemical to notify it before
putting it on the market (in USA: before production). Together
with the notification he has to provide the authorities with a
dossier containing test results and' other information about the
chemical in question.
With these data the government is able to assess the danger to man
and the environment arising from the use of the substance.
The overall aim of chemicals control legislation is the protection
of man and the environment against harmful impacts which may be
caused by the chemical during its entire life cycle. The
instruments for reaching this aim are
— knowledge about the inherent effects and the use patterns of a chemical, and
— legislative means for regulating the chemical.
