About the IChEMS Advisory Committee
The Advisory Committee on the Environmental Management of Industrial Chemicals (IChEMS Advisory Committee) is established under section 27 of the Industrial Chemicals Environmental Management (Register) Act 2021 (ICEMR Act).
The IChEMS Advisory Committee advises the Minister for the Environment and Water on industrial chemical scheduling decisions under the ICEMR Act.
Appointments to the committee are made by the Minister on a part-time basis for a term of up to five years. The Remuneration Tribunal determines remuneration and allowances for members. Relevant Determinations can be found at the Remuneration Tribunal website.
Committee membership will be selected with consideration of expertise, professional standing and experience, gender, geographical representation, career stage and cultural diversity.
Commitment
The IChEMS Advisory Committee meets several times a year:
- Meetings are typically up to 3 days long and may be held in person or online.
- Some weekend and out of hours travel may be required to attend in-person meetings.
Members are expected to be well prepared for meetings and undertake work out-of-session to review material.
The Chair may delegate work to members while maintaining equitable workloads.
Role Description
Duties
The broad functions of the IChEMS Advisory Committee and duties of its members are set out in Part 3 of the ICEMR Act and include:
- To advise the Minister about matters referred by the Minister or their delegate relating to the making, varying or revocation of any of the following:
- a scheduling decision for a relevant industrial chemical;
- the Industrial Chemicals Environmental Management (Register) Instrument 2022 (the Register);
- the Industrial Chemicals Environmental Management (Register) Principles 2022 (the Principles);
- any other functions conferred on the IChEMS Advisory Committee by the Industrial Chemicals Environmental Management (Register) Rules 2022 (the Rules);
- to do anything incidental to or conducive to the performance of the above functions.
The IChEMS Advisory Committee is accountable to the Minister under the ICEMR Act.
The IChEMS Advisory Committee provides advice on the scheduling of all industrial chemicals proposed for listing on Schedules 6 or 7 of the Register and therefore of high environmental risk.
Other industrial chemicals proposed for scheduling may be referred to the committee.
The committee will review the draft recommendation, environmental risks, hazards, other relevant information, and for proposed schedule 6 or 7 decisions, whether there is an essential use.
Confidentiality, privacy and conflicts of interest
Members are required to agree to a Confidentiality and Privacy Deed and to declare conflicts of interest.
Selection Criteria
Essential
1. Experience, knowledge and significant standing in a relevant field in at least one of the following areas:
- Industrial chemistry
- Ecotoxicology
- Environmental risk management
- Environmental health
- Human toxicology
- Applied socio-economic analysis
- Ecology
- Chemical regulation
- Environmental regulation
- Other appropriate field of expertise.
2. Strong analytical and critical thinking skills.
3. Ability to engage with technical material.
4. Extensive experience in application of scientific criteria.
5. Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively to achieve outcomes.
6. Demonstrated high standard of professionalism, probity, and personal integrity.
Desirable
Experience on professional boards.
