Chemical Dialogue

Over 96 percent of the world’s manufacturing supply chains—from automotive to aircraft, from electronics to agriculture, from apparel to medical supplies—depend on access to innovative and effective chemical input. Chemistry is vital to the creation of groundbreaking products that make our lives and planet healthier, safer and more sustainable. Trade acts as the conduit that enables the innovative products of chemistry to reach the economies and businesses that need them most.

In the 2000 APEC Ministerial Meeting in Brunei Darussalam, ministers welcomed an initiative to establish the Chemical Dialogue (CD), comprising of government and industry representatives to foster cooperation and take actions to help member economies achieve high standards of protection for human health and safety and the environment, foster greater innovation, and prevent barriers to trade.

The CD serves as a forum for regulatory and trade officials and industry representatives to find solutions to challenges facing the chemical industry in the Asia-Pacific region. It reflects APEC members' recognition of the importance of both engaging with the private sector and building public-private dialogue and sustained cooperation for the benefit of both sectors.

The CD focuses on chemical-sector trade liberalization and facilitation by improving trade and regulatory policies and practices. It seeks workable programs which ensure that regulatory, safety and environmental goals can be implemented by both governments and businesses.

The CD’s primary goals are articulated in its strategic framework, which was initially endorsed by APEC Ministers in 2011.

The APEC Chemical Dialogue: Strategic Framework for Chemicals in the Asia-Pacific Region 2024-2027 is organized around the following three revised shared goals:

• To facilitate trade and raise the standard of sound management of chemicals by expanding and supporting regulatory cooperation and regulatory alignment in the region.
• To promote understanding of the chemical industry’s role as a provider of innovative solutions for sustainable economic, environmental and social development.
• To enable effective cooperation between industry and governments to improve chemical product stewardship and safe use.

The CD has maintained a focus on regulatory cooperation and the application of good regulatory practices throughout its tenure, developing in 2008 a set of Principles for Best Practice in Chemical Regulation and subsequently in 2016 a Best Practice Principles Checklist for Chemicals Regulation to help economies apply those principles during the regulatory review and rule-making process. In 2020, the CD endorsed the APEC CD Regulatory Cooperation Report to identify, share, and capture best practices and actionable approaches for APEC chemical regulators seeking to engage in regulatory cooperation with trade partners.

Last page update: October 2024

Contacts

Current Activities

Last meeting

The thirty-third meeting of the APEC Chemical Dialogue (CD”, “Dialogue” or “CD33”) was convened in hybrid mode on 13^th August 2024 in Lima, Peru. On 12^th August 2024, the CD Industry Pre-Meeting (IPM) was held with the focus on the Extended Producer Responsibility in the Asia-Pacific Region and the role of industry in the sector. At CD33, members from both industry and government actively participated, continuing the Chemical Dialogue’s commitments as a unique mechanism to proactively advance initiatives that benefit all stakeholders in and around the chemical industry. Discussions were about regulatory operation, GHS implementation, and sustainability with an aim to advance CD objectives. CD members provided regulatory updates, including both individual and collective actions. Four Virtual Working Groups (VWGs) on Regulatory Cooperation and Convergence, GHS, Data Exchange and Marine Debris also updates their recent activities. New project proposals were introduced and received support from members.  

Activities and events in 2024

• Chemical Dialogue held 2 plenary meetings in Lima, Peru on the margins of the First and the Third Senior Officials’ Meetings (SOM1 and SOM3).
  The 32^nd Chemical Dialogue took place on 1 March 2024. The 33^rd Chemical Dialogue took place on 13 August 2024
• “Implementing OECD Mutual Acceptance of Data (MAD) System” (CD 201 2023T) was held on 29 February 2024 in Lima, Peru. Experiences adhering to the MAD System from participating economies were shared and discussed actively. It was noted that participating in the OECD MAD System saves over US$300 million a year and both OECD members and non-members can adhere to MAD.  Through a workshop, participant feedback a general interest to develop a roadmap for adhering to MAD to support economies that are interested in the process but don’t know where to start. 
• “Risk Assessment Workshop” (CD 202 2023T) was organized on 12 August 2024 in Lima, Peru. The objective of the workshop was to facilitate trade by strengthening the capacity of regulators to conduct risk assessments and engage in regulatory cooperation activities. The outputs for this workshop included the translation of the CD Risk Assessment Toolkit into Spanish and the creation of a project summary report. 
• “Capacity Building for Chemical Emergency Preparedness” (CD 01 2024S) was held on 22-29 September 2024 in Chinese Taipei. The training course covered hazard identification, on-site detection, and incident response with participants including front-line personnel from governments, industries and academic institutions in developing economies. The aim was to enhance capacity building, strengthen knowledge and skills in responding to chemical incidents, reduce environmental impact, and promote human safety.
• Publications
  1. Capacity Building on GHS Implementation Convergence Practices (CD 01 2022A)
  2. Green Chemistry and Sound Chemicals Management Workshop (CD 03 2022A)