미국 화학물질 규제행정의 체계와 법제

초록

Chemicals provide many benefits to humans, but they also present risks. This double nature obliges governments to regulate the chemical risks to secure safety in order to protect public health and environment. Moreover, regulation of chemical risks obliges them to view the global trend toward modernization of chemical management. This is because the market for industrial chemicals is global, and chemical releases can cross borders. Regulation of industrial chemicals is in a period of global maturation. In 2002, the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development established the goal that “by 2020, chemicals are used and produced in ways that lead to the minimization of significant adverse effects on human health and the environment.” To this end, for decades, nations around the world have been updating their regulatory programs. Canada. European Union, Japan, China, Korea, to name a few, are running in this race. Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress has been slow to modernize the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA), despite a broad consensus that the current design of TSCA is outmoded. Due to this passive attitude of the federal government, U.S. states, prominently California, have enacted new and upgrading programs aimed at assessing and reducing the potential for adverse effects from chemical exposures. In this context, this paper aims at examining the current U.S. chemical safety law and regulation. Notwithstanding the fact that the Korea enacted and has just began implementing the new and advanced regulatory program, this examination is practically, economically and industrially meaningful. It is because the U.S. is the number one producer and trader of chemicals and chemical products in the world. Accordingly, this article first overviews the general chemical regulatory system and governance, and then examines TSCA and Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act in details. It further addresses the new and prominent California Proposition 65 and lastly concludes with some implications.

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