The Department of Environment and Water Resources (DEW) provides advice to NICNAS on the environmental implications of the importation, manufacture and use of new and existing industrial chemicals. The assessment reports submitted to NICNAS include an environmental hazard and risk assessment and, where appropriate, recommendations for the control measures necessary to minimise adverse environmental effects resulting from the stated use patterns of the chemicals.

A summary of assessment reports for new chemicals completed by DEW during 2006-07 is shown in the table below.

Assessments completed by DEW in 2006-07 compared with 2005-06

Assessment category	Number of environment assessment reports sent to NICNAS
	2005-06	2006-07
Standard notification	50	35
Limited notification	60	55
Polymer of Low Concern (PLC)	65	60
Self-assessment Polymer of Low Concern	36	13
Self-assessment Non Hazardous Polymer	1	0
Extension/Secondary notification	10	5
Sub-total	222	168
Commercial Evaluation Permit (CEC)	26	8
Low Volume Chemical Permit (LVC)	8	9
Export Only Permit (EOP)	N/A	3
Early Introduction Permit (EIP)	Not available *	Not available *
Sub-total	34	20
TOTAL New Chemicals	256	188

* See Appendix 05 for data on EIPs