Product Stewardship
Promoting shared responsibility for the safe and sustainable management of chemical products
CAIA promotes the safe use of chemical products and views it as a shared responsibility of manufacturers, warehousers, distributors, transporters, users and the Government.
CAIA and its members have developed a Product Stewardship Code of Management Practice based on the International Council of Chemical Associations’ Product Stewardship Guidelines.
Product stewardship is an important pillar of Responsible Care®, which is the chemical industry’s key mechanism for managing the health, safety, environmental and security aspects of a chemical throughout its life cycle. It is the practice of making health, safety and environmental protection an integral part of the life cycle of chemical products.
CAIA also supports compliance with the Globally Harmonised System for Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS), Regulations for Hazardous Chemical Agents, as well as global agreements such as the Global Framework of Chemicals and the Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm, Montreal and Minamata Conventions. It is important that transparency and the best available, most up-to-date science must be the foundation of chemical hazard and risk assessments. CAIA encourages its members to assess chemical hazards and risks of their products and have procedures in place for chemical risk assessments.
Benefits of Product Stewardship
Product stewardship provides the platform for companies to identify risks at an early stage and manage risks along the value chain, thereby enabling adequate protection of human health and the environment.
It can increase customer loyalty and expand the positive impact of product stewardship down the value chain.
Evaluation and avoidance of risk reduces the potential for harm and potential liabilities, making product stewardship a “value add” to business operations.