Commonwealth Numbered Acts

INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS (NOTIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT) ACT 1989 No. 8 of 1990 - SECT 5

5. In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:

"approved" means approved by the Director;

"approved foreign scheme" means a notification and assessment scheme approved
by the Minister under section 43;

"assessment certificate" means a certificate given under section 39;

"assessment information", in relation to an industrial chemical, means
information about a matter of which account would be taken in the assessment
of the chemical, being a matter specified in paragraph 32 (2) (a), (b), (c),
(d), (e) or (f);

"assessment report" means a report under section 31, 57 or 68;

"Australia", when used in a geographical sense, includes the external
Territories;

"basic information", in relation to a chemical, means all the following
information:

   (a)  the name or names by which the chemical is known to the public or is
        intended by its importer or manufacturer to be so known;

   (b)  the chemical's general uses;

   (c)  the precautions and restrictions to be observed in the manufacture,
        handling, storage, use and disposal of the chemical;

   (d)  recommendations arising from the assessment of the chemical under this
        Act that relate to disposing of the chemical and rendering it
        harmless;

   (e)  the procedures to be followed in the event of an emergency involving
        the chemical;

   (f)  prescribed physical and chemical data about the chemical, not being
        data that would reveal the chemical's composition;

   (g)  prescribed data relating to the health effects or the environmental
        effects of the chemical;

"biopolymer" means:

   (a)  a polymer directly produced by living or once-living cells or cellular
        components; or

   (b)  a synthetic equivalent of a polymer referred to in paragraph (a); or

   (c)  a derivative or modification of a polymer referred to in paragraph (a)
        in which the original polymer remains substantially intact;

"Chairperson" means the Chairperson of the Commission;

"chemical" has the meaning given in section 6;

"Chemical Gazette" means an issue of the Gazette published:

   (a)  unless the regulations prescribe days for the purposes of this
        definition - on the first Tuesday in any month; or

   (b)  where the regulations prescribe days for those purposes - on any of
        the prescribed days;

"Chief Executive Officer" means the Chief Executive Officer of the Commission;

"commercial" includes financial;

"Commission" means the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission
established by section 6 of the National Occupational Health and Safety
Commission Act 1985 ;

"confidential section" means the section of the Inventory referred to in
subsection 12 (4);

"confidentiality request" means a request made to the Environment Department
before the commencement of section 13 that the particulars of a chemical, if
it is accepted for inclusion in the Inventory, be kept confidential;

"Department" means a Department of the Commonwealth;

"Director" means the Director of Chemicals Notification and Assessment
appointed under section 90;

"disposal", in relation to a chemical, includes disposal of waste resulting
from the manufacture or use of the chemical;

"environment" includes all aspects of the surroundings of humans, whether
affecting them as individuals or in social groupings;

"Environment Department" means the Department of the Arts, Sport, the
Environment, Tourism and Territories;

"environmental effect", in relation to an industrial chemical, means the
effect on the environment of the importation, manufacture, handling, storage,
use or disposal of the chemical;

"exempt information" means information about which the Director has given a
notification under section 75, and includes information for which an
application for treatment as exempt information has been made under this Act
but not finalised;

"full public report" means a report prepared under section 34 with any
variations of it made under subsection 37 (2) or 40 (5);

"handling", in relation to a chemical, includes transporting the chemical;

"health effect", in relation to an industrial chemical, means the effect on
occupational health and safety or on public health of the importation,
manufacture, handling, storage, use or disposal, of the chemical;

"holder of a confidence", in relation to an industrial chemical, means a
person who under section 17 is to be treated as the holder of a confidence
about the chemical;

"import", in relation to an industrial chemical, means do an act which
constitutes importation of the chemical for the purposes of the Customs Act
1901, or would constitute such importation if that Act extended to the
external Territories;

"importer", in relation to an industrial chemical, means a person who imports
or proposes to import the chemical;

"incidentally-produced chemical" means a chemical that is produced as a result
of:

   (a)  the exposure of another chemical to light, heat or other environmental
        conditions in the course of handling or storage; or

   (b)  the occurrence of a chemical reaction during the manufacture or use of
        another chemical;
but does not include a chemical whose production has commercial value for a
person manufacturing, handling, storing or using that other chemical;

"industrial chemical" has the meaning given in section 7;

"information", in relation to an industrial chemical, includes:

   (a)  information about the result of a test relating to the chemical; and

   (b)  other information about such a test;

"inspector" means:

   (a)  a person appointed as an inspector under subsection 84 (1); or

   (b)  an officer of the Public Service of a State or Territory to whom an
        arrangement referred to in subsection 84 (2) applies;

"Institute" means the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety
referred to in subsection 29 (1) of the National Occupational Health and
Safety Commission Act 1985 ;

"introduction", in relation to an industrial chemical, means the importation,
or manufacture in Australia, of the chemical;

"introduction permit" means a permit under section 30;

"Inventory" means the Australian Inventory of Chemical Substances referred to
in section 11;

"listed industrial chemical" means an industrial chemical whose particulars
are included in the Inventory;

"manufacturer", in relation to an industrial chemical, means a person who
manufactures or proposes to manufacture the chemical in Australia;

"Material Safety Data Sheet", in relation to a chemical or to a product or
substance containing a chemical, means a written statement that:

   (a)  identifies the chemical; and

   (b)  specifies the health hazards that could be caused by the chemical; and

   (c)  specifies the manner of handling the chemical, product or substance in
        a way that minimises hazards; and

   (d)  specifies the procedures to be adopted in the event of any emergency
        involving the chemical, product or substance; and

   (e)  contains information about the chemical and physical properties of the
        chemical, not being exempt matter or matter referred to in subsection
        46 (2); and

   (f)  contains prescribed information; being, if there is a note known as a
        Guidance Note for Completion of a Material Safety Data Sheet published
        by the Commission, a statement prepared in accordance with that note;

"monomer" means any non-polymerised chemical that is:

   (a)  used in the production of polymers; and

   (b)  capable of undergoing an addition reaction or condensation reaction;

"naturally-occurring chemical" means:

   (a)  an unprocessed chemical occurring in a natural environment; or

   (b)  a chemical occurring in a natural environment, being a substance that
        is extracted by:

        (i)    manual, mechanical or gravitational means; or

        (ii)   dissolution in water; or

        (iii)  flotation; or

        (iv)   a process of heating for the sole purpose of removing
               uncombined water; without chemical change in the substance;

"new industrial chemical" means an industrial chemical that:

   (a)  is not a listed industrial chemical; and

   (b)  in the case of a synthetic polymer - is a new synthetic polymer; but
        does not include an industrial chemical a submission for whose
        inclusion in the Inventory is being dealt with under section 13;

"new synthetic polymer" means:

   (a)  a polymer that includes a combination of monomers and other reactive
        components, being a combination not listed in the Inventory; or

   (b)  a polymer of whose weight at least 2% is attributable to a monomer or
        other reactive component that is not listed in the Inventory as a
        component of a synthetic polymer;

"non-confidential section" means the section of the Inventory referred to in
subsection 12 (2);

"notification law", in relation to a State or Territory, means a law of the
State or Territory under which a statement of matters about new industrial
chemicals manufactured there are given to an authority of the State or
Territory;

"notification statement" means a statement referred to in subsection 23 (3);

"occupier", in relation to a vehicle, vessel or aeroplane, means the person in
charge of it;

"officer" means a person who is, or has been:

   (a)  the Director; or

   (b)  assisting the Director; or

   (c)  an inspector;

"polymer" means a chemical comprising a simple weight majority of molecules
containing 2 or more monomer units which are covalently bound to at least 2
other monomer units and for which the number-average molecular weight is more
than 500;

"premises" includes:

   (a)  a structure, building, aircraft, vehicle or vessel; and

   (b)  a place (whether enclosed or built upon or not); and

   (c)  a part of premises (including premises of a kind referred to in
        paragraph (a) or (b));

"priority existing chemical" means an industrial chemical in respect of which
a declaration under section 51 or 52 is in force;

"reaction intermediate" means a substance that:

   (a)  is produced in the course of a chemical reaction; and

   (b)  has a transient existence; and

   (c)  does not become a major component of the reaction mixture; and

   (d)  is not removed from the reaction system;

"secondary notification" means notification required by section 65;

"Secretary", in relation to a Department, means the person who is, for the
time being, the Secretary of that Department within the meaning of the Public
Service Act 1922;

"summary report" means a report prepared under section 35 with any variations
of it made under subsection 37 (2) or 40 (7);

"synthetic polymer" means any polymer other than a biopolymer;

"Tribunal" means the Administrative Appeals Tribunal;

"use" includes proposed use.