Legal information

Act on Confirmation, etc. of Release Amounts of Specific Chemical Substances in the Environment and Promotion of Improvements to the Management Thereof (PRTR Law)

 

Overview

Japanese PRTR (Pollutant Release and Transfer Register) Law is a system for grasping, aggregating and publishing data on what kind of source, how much and how many harmful chemical substances were discharged into the environment, or whether they were contained in waste and carried out of the business site. Business persons that manufacture or use the chemical substances listed as targets are aware of the amount discharged into the environment and the amount moved outside the business site to be treated as waste and report to the government once a year. The administrative organization will organize and tabulate the data, estimate the amount of target chemical substances emitted from homes, farmlands, automobiles, etc., and publish the two data together. The PRTR Law allows us to know what chemical substances are emitted from which sources and how much each year. It is being introduced in other countries as well, and it was institutionalized in Japan based on the “Act on Confirmation, etc. of Release Amounts of Specific Chemical Substances in the Environment and Promotion of Improvements to the Management Thereof” in 1999.

 

Target business operator

Among businesse persons that handle target chemical substances for PRTR (manufacturing them or using them as raw materials) or are expected to discharge them to the environment, those that meet certain industries and requirements are eligible. In Japan, it is obligatory to report the amount of chemical substances that are released into the environment and the amount that is contained in waste and moved outside the business site. The type of industry and requirements (such as the amount of target chemical substances handled and the number of regular employees) are specified by a Cabinet Order, as with the target chemical substances.

 

Measures

If you want to omit the notification work, you can eliminate the need for notification by switching to an alternative product excluding the Class 1 Designated Substances or by limiting the annual handling amount to 1t.

 

We manufacture a large number of solvents and cleaning agents that do not contain substances subject to the PRTR Law.

 

 

 

 

Revision information

 

Revision of PRTR Law

The “Government Ordinance to Partially Amend Act on Confirmation, etc. of Release Amounts of Specific Chemical Substances in the Environment and Promotion of Improvements to the Management Thereof Enforcement Ordinance” was promulgated on November 21, 2008.

 

Transition schedule for PRTR system and MSDS system due to revision of government ordinance

• MSDS system enforcement: The provision of the MSDS system based on newly designated chemical substances started on October 1, 2009.
• PRTR system enforcement: Grasping of the amount of newly designated chemical substances released and transferred began on April 1, 2010.

 

 

Changed target chemical substance

Class 1 Designated Chemical Substances
	354 substances	⇒	462 substances
(Of the above, Specified Class 1 Designated Chemical Substances:	12 substances	⇒	15 substances)

 

Class 2 Designated Chemical Substances
	81 substances	⇒	100 substances

 

The change of the solvent that our company handles is as follows:

Chemical substances added to Class 1 Designated Chemical Substances	Chemical substances deleted from Class 1 Designated Chemical Substances
1,3-Dioxolane 1-Bromopropane Normal Hexane (N-hexane) DMAC (N,N-Dimethylethanamide / Acetyl dimethyl amine / Dimethylacetamide)	Ethyleneglycol