2015-12-02
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The Ministério do Meio Ambiente (MMA) [Ministry of the Environment] and the European Union-Brazil Sector Dialogues Support Project, an initiative coordinated by the European Union Delegation to Brazil (DELBRA) and the Ministério do Planejamento (MP) [Ministry of Planning], organized a seminar on Control and Regulation of Hazardous Chemical Substances in Articles and Products, from November 30th to December 2nd, at the Instituto Brasileiro de Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Renováveis – IBAMA [Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources] auditorium, in Brasília.
At the event opening, the national director of the European Union-Brazil Sector Dialogues Support Project, Marcelo Torres, stressed the importance of the initiative. “Two aspects should be emphasized: the strategic aspect, considering that our actions bring together political players who will work in close cooperation, and the technical aspect, since we promote the improvement of Brazilian public institutions by means of this exchange of experiences with European partners”, noted Marcelo Torres. According to him, the exchange of knowledge with specialists from the European Union will contribute to the regulation of hazardous chemical substances in Brazil.
In this regard, DELBRA’s advisor for international cooperation, Cristina Carvalho, thanked MMA and IBAMA for their support and praised the positive results of the project. “We hope our initiative may produce even more fruits”, she said. At that time, DELBRA’s representative also mentioned COP 21, the UN conference on climate, in Paris. “In the past years, the European Commission has kept up its fight against global warming and held many events in Brazil dealing with the growing awareness on climate issue”, remarked Cristina Carvalho, to emphasize the importance of cooperation in environment-related matters.
The director for Environmental Quality in the Industrial Sector of the MMA, Letícia Carvalho, reported that, regulation and control of hazardous chemical substances is incipient, in Brazil. According to her, international conventions have enabled an intense exchange of experiences and flow of information in Brazil. However, there is still a need to build national infrastructures for the management of chemical substances. “Brazil has established regulatory instruments to govern specific applications and uses, such as agrichemicals, disinfectants, food additives, cosmetics. However, there are still gaps regarding the regulation of hazardous chemical substances present in articles and products intended to final consumers”, warned Letícia Carvalho.
The opening of the event was also attended by the senior advisor of the Swedish Chemical Products Agency, Stina Andersson, who spoke highly of the partnership between Brazil and her country. “We greatly appreciate the Brazilian participation in our cooperation program”.
Mission to Europe
The same theme was also addressed in the November mission to Europe, sponsored by the European Union-Brazil Sector Dialogues Support Project. The Brazilian delegation was comprised of Cayssa Marconde, environmental analyst at the MMA and the person in charge for the action Control and Regulation of Hazardous Chemical Substances in Articles and Products; Cristiane Mascarenhas, researcher technologist in Metrology and Quality of the National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology (INMETRO); and Eloi Venturini, environmental analyst at IBAMA.
In Finland, the delegation participated in various technical meetings. At the European Chemicals Agency, the delegates were given an overview of standards applied to the management of hazardous chemical substances in products and articles, in the European Union. At the Finnish Chemicals Agency, they were shown the management process they employed and how the relevant laws were enforced in Finland. At the Finnish Customs Laboratory, the delegates were able to see how the staff inspected imported products and articles and the type of analyses that are carried out. At a meeting with a representative of the Helsinki Municipal Administration, the Brazilian delegates learned about procedures and requirements related to sustainable public purchases for the European Union and for the municipal administration, with a focus on specifications and requirements related to products and articles that may contain hazardous chemical substances.
The mission schedule also included visits to different institutions in Sweden. The delegation participated in a meeting at the Swedish Chemicals Agency, where they received information on the specific database used to regulate products and articles containing hazardous chemical substances and how they are managed. At Scania, the delegation had the opportunity to observe how the private sector views the theme and what measures have been adopted to ensure compliance with the applicable legal requirements.
According to Cayssa Marconde, the exchange of knowledge and experiences with European agencies specialized in the regulation of hazardous chemical substances in articles and products was extremely positive. “That exchange provided us with a reference basis that will help fill the gaps in Brazilian regulations on the theme. This mission has given the team the elements that will assist them in identifying and determining the management strategy which will be adopted in the country”, explained the mission Operating Officer.
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