11th International Nano- Authorities-Dialogue
The 11th International Nano-Authorities-Dialogue (NAD) took place on the 29th March 2017, at the invitation of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management (Lebensministerium), in Vienna. About 50 representatives from authorities, research institutions, NGO`s and companies from Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein discussed the topic “Governance and Regulation of Nanomaterials”.
Within the framework of this year’s NAD, current, nano-specific research and regulation projects of countries have been presented in the first part. In this "Tour-de-Table" session, national representatives presented current projects in the regulation sector. Furthermore, the framework agreement «Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management” (SAICM) with regard to nanomaterials has been introduced. Once again, it became clear that there is a wide range of activities in both the research and regulation sector.
Subsequently, the focus was on new scientific findings with regulatory relevance. Four presentations about the current state of science with regulations reference were held. Prof. Dr. Peter Gehr (University of Bern) presented the national research program “Chances and risks of Nanomaterials” (NFP 64) of Switzerland and the most important results. Dr. Klaus Günter Steinhäuser presented the results of the ProSafe project, which has the goal to prepare different expert reports for the assessment of research results with regulatory benefits. Dr. Kathrin Schwirn from the federal environment agency (Umweltbundesamt) outlined the current state of nanomaterials in the chemicals regulation and gave recommendations from the point of view of an environmental agency. Dr. Karin Gromann from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Health and Women's Affairs presented a statement of the Austrian health agency on current regulations.
This was followed by a brief look at the state of regulation activities in the EU and the activities of the OECD. Andrej Kobe (DG Environment) presented the current state of the European regulation (REACH) and gave an outlook on the adaptions of the definition of nanomaterials. Peter Kearns (Head OECD Nanosafety program) gave insights into the activities of the OECD in national and international approaches to the safety test and assessment of nanomaterials.
Conclusively, different theses were discussed in the following topics:
- “Safety throughout the entire life cycle – creating legal certainty”
- “the capturing of materials and production”
- “focused research and innovation”
For each topic, 3-4 theses were selected and evaluated by the participants for the discussion. Subsequently, challenges and proposals for measures were formulated with regard to the further development of regulation.
The theses were all based on the results of the last year’s NAD in Bern. At that time, the participants had made suggestions for possible elements of an action plan for the sustainable use of nanomaterials and summarized them in a "Nano-Roadmap 2020" Memorandum. The results of this year breakout sessions will be used for further impulses and suggestions for the further development of the nano regulation in the coming years.
Link: www.nano-behördendialog.org