06 Jul Seminar on Global Chemical Regulation and Food and Food Contact Material

The Samahan sa Pilipinas ng mga Industriyang Kimika (SPIK) conducted the Seminar on Global Chemical Regulations and Food and Food Contact Materials on December 1-2, 2016 at the Hotel H2O, Manila attended by fifty (50) participants from the chemical, food, plastic, petrochemical, Oleochemicals and coatings sector.

Mr. Nilo Rebay, Environmental, Health, Safety and Security Manager of HGST Philippines, a Western Digital Company, opened the seminar with the discussion on Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). It is a regulation of the European Union dated 18 December 2006, adopted to improve the protection of human health and the environment from the risks that can be posed by chemicals, while enhancing the competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry. It also promotes alternative methods for the hazard assessment of substances in order to reduce the number of tests on animals.

On the other, An Introduction: Restrictions on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) was presented by Mr. John Oliver Basco of ROHM Electronics Phils., Inc. RoHS, also known as Lead-Free, stands for Restriction of Hazardous Substances.

Ms. Emmanuelita Mendoza of the Chemical Management Section of DENR-EMB, discussed the country’s contribution to the Strategic Approach to International Chemical Management (SAICM) and how it influences the industrial chemical regulations in the Philippines. SAICM is a policy framework to foster the sound management of chemicals.

The participants were able to access the website of ASEAN-Japan Chemical Safety Database during the online training session facilitated by Mr. Junya Inose of the Mitsubishi Research Institute. The AJCSD is a free, public online database that provides you with regulatory information on a hundred thousand chemicals in ASEAN and Japan. The AJCSD was co-developed by ASEAN and Japan as a powerful tool to support business on chemicals.

The Food Safety Act of 2013 was presented by Mr. Timothy Moises Mendoza of the Food and Drug Administration. The salient features and the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of R.A 10611 were discussed in detail. In connection to this topic, Dr. Elias Escueta, Consultant on Food Science, Nutrition and Environment introduced the topic on Food Contact Material Regulation from US, EU, Japan, China, South Korea, AustraliaNew Zealand and the Philippines. The presentation also covered analytical methods for testing food contact material, and the migration testing and exposure assessment of chemicals in foods.

FSSC 22000: Food Safety System Certification was discussed by Ms. Genelyn F. Macaya, Consultant, Quality Plus Management Consulting. FSSC 22000 is a management system standard on food safety that can be used as the basis of any food safety management system, with or without 3rd party certification.

The latter part of the seminar was a best practice sharing on pesticide application standards in food manufacturing industries, fumigant gases and classification of pesticides based on toxicity and hazard from Ms. Charisma Escaño and Mr. Gabriel Salazar of Sterix Incorporated- Philippines and Ms. Riegine Reyes of Syngenta Philippines respectively

The two-day seminar ended with closing remarks from Dir Jesus Laguitao, SPIK Vice President.

Trabaho, Negosyo, Kabuhayan(TNK) Employment and Livelihood Summit– Dececember 1-2, 2016, Kalayaan Hall 10th Floor, SM Aura Tower, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig

The Employment and Livelihood Summit with the Theme: Trabaho, Negosyo at Kabuhayan: Malasakit at PagbabagoTungo sa Kaunlaran at Katiwasayan, a collaborative initiative of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) was one of the several sectoral summits conducted to encourage broad based consultation in line with the new administration’s development path. It is also A Blueprint for Decent Employment and Entrepreneurship for the period 2017-2022.

A departure from the past Government’s focus on attaining economic growth, the TNK Summit focused on identifying the strategies to increase employment levels, improve access to employment opportunities, and prepare the workforce for industry’s needs today and tomorrow. The three main Industry Sectors: I. Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, Mining, II. Manufacturing (where the Chemical Industry belongs) and III. Services were requested to submit an Action Agenda to Generate Employment and employment projections for the period 2017-2022.

The Plenary speakers were led by DOLE Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III, DTI Secretary Ramon M. Lopez, Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco, Jr., Undersecretary Gloria J. Mercado –Executive Director, Office of the Cabinet Secretary, Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon – Office of the Undersecretary for Policy and Planning, NEDA and Assistant Secretary Rafaelita M. Aldaba – Industry Development Group, DTI.

The Chemical Manufacturing Sector had shown that the employment growth during the last 5 years was nearly flat at less than 1% and it will continue of the next six years but the outside services provided by service providers for the Chemical Industry increased by around 15%. This could be due to the outsourcing of non-core processes.

In support of the Industry Sectors to achieve full employment at 5% unemployment rate by creating 7.5 million jobs by 2022 in the main Key Employment Generating Sectors (KEGS) wherein the Manufacturing Sector is one of them, ten (10) strategies will be implemented and monitored by the DTI and DOLE. The Duterte administration will also increase Public Investments in Infrastructure at 7% of GDP or around Php 7.0 Trillion in the next six years which includes the RoRo bridges for faster and more efficient transfer of goods and services by land and sea in the country.

2016 National Export Congress and Meeting with the China Daily Chemical Enterprise Leaders Asean Delegation – December 1-7, 2016, Philippine Trade Training Center, Sen. Gil Puyat Ave. corner Roxas Blvd., Pasay City

The 2016 National Exporters’ Week and the National Export Congress with the theme: Advancing SMEs through Inclusive Business: from Local to Global aimed to promote a favorable business climate to enable SMEs to enhance their capabilities to supply and maintain their presence in the international market.

The Top Exporters Award were awarded to exporters with exemplary performance in their respective sectors based on the exporters’ 2015 export revenue as reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Successful Enrollees of the Regional Interactive Platform for Philippine Exporters (RIPPLES) Plus were also recognized. RIPPLES is a program that provides capacitybuilding training and business matching to expand the supply base of competitive Philippine Export products.

A special meeting was organized by the DTI and PhilExport for chemical products, cosmetics, personal care products exporters, production machinery and equipment and service providers with the China Daily

Chemical Enterprise Leaders Asean Delegation and ChinaAsean Business Council headed by Xu Ningning Executive President China-Asean Business Council. The Chinese enterprise leaders showed powerpoint and video presentations with English translations of their respective companies and products. The selected Filipino exporters invited to the meeting were also introducedto the Chinese delegation.

Workshop on Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) for Regulators- December 13, 2016 Dusit Thani Hotel, Makati City

The Board of Investments (BOI) in cooperation with the Samahan sa Pilipinas ng mga Industriyang Kimika (SPIK) organized a one-day workshop on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) for Regulators on December 13, 2016 at the Dusit Thani Hotel, Makati City.

The workshop aims to provide awareness to regulators and it serves as a venue for the regulators to discuss the Building Blocks which will form part of the GHS implementation in the Philippines. The workshop helped the regulators understand and appreciate the classification process done by the manufacturers, traders, distributors or companies that are required to provide Safety Data Sheet (SDS) to their customers. The second workshop following the discussion on Building Block Approach (BBA) helped the regulators decide on which Building Block will be adopted and provide them an understanding on the impact in the business sector.

Speakers from the DENR- EMB and Occupational Health and Safety Center (OHSC) discussed the updates on the implementation of GHS for industrial chemicals and workplace respectively while SPIK provided discussions on the overview of GHS, Physical, Health and Environmental Hazards and Building Block Approach.

Meeting with Yoshitaka Goto, Consultant of Mizuho Information and Research Institute (MHIR) – December 14, 2016, EMB AQMTC, DENR.

MHIR is a Japanese research and consulting company which is conducting a research on international chemical regulatory trend and strengthening cooperation with overseas authorities, chemical industry association and research institutes. Mr. Goto’s research covers laws, regulations and standards and list of household products or substances regulated in EU, US, Canada, ASEAN, and East Asia (China and Korea). Aside from the EMB which hosted the meeting, a representative from the Food and Drug Agency (FDA) was also invited.

Recently, the Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) started implementing the Act on Control of Household Products Containing harmful Substances which included textile products that contain Azo compounds. Azo compounds are present in coloring dyes for textiles. In Japan, the Act will take effect on April 1, 2017. The EMB Chemical Management Section explained to Mr. Goto that the Philippine government has existing laws such as R.A. 6969– Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990 that regulates all toxic substances and wastes containing toxic, hazardous and radioactive substances. They have also the Priority Chemicals Lists (PCL) where some are issued Chemical Control Orders (CCO) for their sound management and prohibited use in the country. At present, the Philippine government has not yet regulated the use of Azo compounds in textile materials. Likewise, the FDA representative explained that there are existing regulations on the lead and mercury content of household products that include toys. The agency confiscate products sold or about to be sold in the market after random inspections and tests show that these exceed the standards. SPIK also mentioned that the Philippine chemical industry is highly regulated already but has existing codes under Responsible Care to management properly its operations and products

AJCSD or ASEAN-Japan Chemical Safety Database which became operational in April 2016 may just be the version of BIGDr for the chemical industry. The site is user friendly and free of charge. It is managed by AMEICC WG-CI (ASEAN Economic Ministers and METI Economic and Industrial Cooperation Committee Working Group on Chemical Industry operated by NITE (National Institute of Technology and Evaluation, Japan.

Meeting on the Final Regulatory Action (FRA) under the Rotterdam Convention- December 14, 2016, EMB AQMTC, DENR.

The Chemical Review Committee, the Technical Working Group (TWG) for the Rotterdam Convention convened on December 14, 2016 to discuss and finalize the Philippines FRA under the said Convention. Mr. Renato T. Cruz, Chief of the Environmental Quality Division (EQD) presided the meeting.

Ms. Millette Mendoza, Chief of the Chemical Management Section, briefly discussed the status of compliance and the activities including the Prior Inform Consent (PIC) procedure under the Rotterdam Convention. According to Ms. Mendoza, the Philippines will be nominating Asbestos, Arsenic, Cadmium, Lead Carbonate, Mercury and Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) for inclusion in Annex III. Inorder to complete the FRA, she requested for exposure data of said chemicals from the participants.

Representatives from DOLE – Bureau of Working Condition, DOLE – Occupational Safety and Health Center, DOF- Bureau of Customs – Environmental Protection Unit, DOH – National Center for Disease Prevention and Control, DOH- Food and Drug Administration, Samahan Sa Pilipinas ng IndustriyangKimika (SPIK) and BAN Toxics Inc. attended the meeting.

Post-Congress Focused Group Discussion (FGD) with Exporters/Business Support Organizations (BSOs) – December 16, 2017, Berjaya Hotel, Makati Ave., corner Eduque St., Makati City

The SPIK president and the executive director joined the Post Congress FGD with the BSOs organized by the Export Development Council (EDC), DTI- Export Marketing Bureau (EMB) and PHILEXPORT. A workshop was conducted after the presentation on the Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) 2015-2017: Response to Key Issues Raised by BSOs. The objectives of the workshop were the following: a) to discuss gaps and align sector plans for 2017 with the plans, activities and programs (PAPs) of concerned government agencies under the Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) 2015-2017 in consonance with Industry Roadmaps and the EMB plans, b) to concentrate on short and long term plans for their respective sectors, c) the results gathered from the activity will be used to provide inputs for the next PEDP 2018-2020.

The participants were divided into sectoral groupings: Food and Marine, Services IT/BPM, Electronics, Emerging Products, and Consumer & Industrial. We had to leave after a short discussion to come to the SPIK GMM and Christmas Party being held at I’M Hotel which incidentally is just across the street from Berjaya.

General Membership Meeting and Christmas Party – December 16, 2016, I’M Hotel, Makati Avenue, Makati City

The master of ceremonies as always was Dennis Tirthdas with his witty humor to spice up the affair. The SPIK president Gretchen Fontejon-Enarle whose term ends this 2016 presented her report to the members. Gifts donated by SPIK member companies were give away to everybody present.

Thank you very much to our Major Sponsors: C.B. Andrew Philippines (Mr. Ric Casabuena) and Chemrez Technologies, Inc. (Mr. Dean Lao, Jr.). And to all SPIK Member companies thank you for your support as always!!!

Prepared by:

JEFFREY G. MIJARES

Executive Director