Hazardous substances relief

By Dita De Boni

Manufacturers have welcomed the announcement of a further postponement of a bill regulating hazardous substances.

The Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act Amendment Bill, which aimed to soften the blow to business of the 1996 act, is not now likely to be enacted until after the election.

The regulations from 1996 have not yet been implemented and last week's announcement means no rulings will be passed into law until the amendments have been considered by a select committee. The Minister for the Environment, Simon Upton, said that the complexity of technical regulations had delayed a full implementation of the original bill but were close to being finalised.

The amended legislation was drafted earlier this year after manufacturers baulked at the compliance costs contained in the 1996 act.

Plastics Institute spokesman Bruce Meldrum said that while the institute agreed in principle with the philosophy and intent of the act - to tidy up a variety of laws and regulations dating back to the 1950s - it was concerned at the proposed schedule of fees. A standard application fee to deal with a hazardous substance would have jumped from $2500 to anything up to $20,000.

Pre-application discussions with Environmental Risk Management Authority staff members were proposed at $130 an hour where they had previously been free.

Mr Meldrum said the industry would have had difficulties meeting the fee schedules at a time when resin costs had risen 40-50 per cent with the international rise of crude oil prices.

The jump in resin prices with the weak New Zealand dollar had had a serious effect on raw materials and manufacturing costs, although consumers would probably be spared price increases for a while yet.