Global Product Strategy (GPS)
The Global Product Strategy (GPS) is a voluntary initiative developed by the International Council of Chemical Associations and launched in 2006. This strategy builds on the product stewardship elements of industry’s voluntary Responsible Care initiative. GPS aims to improve the safe management of chemicals, harmonize approaches between developing, emerging and industrialized regions, and strengthen public confidence that our products are handled safely at all stages of the life cycle.
GPS aims to harmonize global level of product safety assessment by:
• Defining a “base set of information” for chemicals in commerce
• Sharing of relevant information for safety assessment between companies
• Promoting a tiered process for evaluating risk and identifying appropriate risk management actions for chemicals in commerce
• Extending the guidance for safety assessment (e.g. ICCA Product Stewardship Guidelines) on a global scale
• Helping to define safe use conditions for chemicals and provide guidance to companies to enable them to meet safe use conditions
• Calls for measuring industry performance and public reporting
• Improves product stewardship cooperation with downstream customers of the chemical industry
• Supports partnerships with intergovernmental organizations and others to enhance product stewardship
• Enhances outreach and dialogue with customers, the public and other stakeholders
GPS in Europe
For European companies and associations, chemical management activities under GPS are driven by the REACH legislation as a complete REACH dossier virtually fulfills GPS obligations. So in Europe and Belgium, the chemical assessment is following REACH priorities and enabling preparation of GPS Safety Summaries using information in the registration dossiers. This GPS safety summary needs to be drafted in simple language and is complementary to the eSDS which is meant for technical persons.
For REACH registered substances, the GPS safety summaries should be available within one year after registration for substances in commerce above 1 tonne/year per producer.
With the help of ICCA and experts from larger chemical firms, essenscia is providing companies with support and tools to facilitate the conversion from REACH dossier to the GPS Safety Summary.
ICCA GPS portal for safety summaries
In October 2010, the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) has launched a the portal for global chemicals safety information that provides free, public access to safety and health information on chemical substances.
The portal includes in an easy-to-search format general overviews and in-depth safety and health information on chemical substances. The portal will improve the understanding of the benefits and risks of marketed chemicals and facilitate access to substance-specific data.
To date more than 1,200 chemical safety summaries are available and the number of substances covered is increasing daily.
The GPS portal is located at: www.icca-chem.org/global-product-strategy
More information: Tine Cattoor, advisor Product Policy, tcattoor@essenscia.be