Latin America Defines an Action Plan for 2021-2024

At the XXII Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean on 1-2 February 2021, ministries from six countries in Latin America announced the Action Plan 2021-2024 for Latin America and the Caribbean, aiming to promote regional cooperation towards sound management of chemicals and waste as initially established by the Action Plan 2019-2020.

The network (2021-2024) will focus on strengthening capabilities to review, apply, and enforce legal frameworks; share methodologies and capacities in the chemical assessments and in the elaboration of chemicals lists for control and monitoring; encourage full GHS adoption within public-private implementation; and stimulate a sustainable chemical industry to prevent and reduce the generation of hazard substance at the source.

The instruments under development will facilitate the implementation of a systematic compilation of information on production, trade, and use of substances, creation of a registry (notification and registration) of chemicals, an inventory of substances, and prioritize substances subjected to risk assessment.

Currently, only Chile implemented a national regulation for the classification, labeling, and notification of chemicals. Other countries including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, and Mexico are drafting their national legislations for the sound management of chemicals. A guideline is under elaboration by the Latin American Regulatory Cooperation Forum (LARCF) to support national implementation in Latina America. It is expected to be published by March 2021.

last update: 2021-05-20