We carried out the questionnaire survey to Japanese companies in order to grasp the present conditions for integrated chemicals management system, including hazard assessment, exposure assessment, risk assessment and risk management. The questionnaire items were evolved around three axes, i.e. enrichment of science basis (a Science axis), ability of persons and organization (a Capacity axis), and achievement, situation of cooperation with clients, and/or information disclosure to society (a Performance axis). We divided companies into suppliers (the supply side of chemicals) and users (the use and processing side of chemicals). Suppliers carried out higher activities than users in the field of hazard assessment, in other fields, especially in risk management users carried out voluntary activities as same as suppliers. The problems that companies should wrestle with are the improvement of Performance by fostering of experts, the risk assessments based on the scientific knowledge and information, the promotion of communication with citizens, the expansion of the area of exposure assessment.

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Japanese government has announced "National Profile" concerning present state of Japanese chemicals management in October 2003. There have been, however, no indications of any strategies for strengthening national capacity. We point out urgent needs for remaking "National Profile" adapted more to UNITAR/IOMC Guidance Documents and whereby strengthening national capacity, especially integrating various practices of hazard evaluation and related communication systems, such as categorization & labeling, SDS, and new chemicals notification systems. We present here the state of international commitments related to National Profile under Agenda 21, the concept of Integrated Chemicals Management and our idea on reformation of Japanese regulatory system.

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Japanese Government has announced a program named "Japan Challenge Program" in June 2005, to facilitate collection of safety data and its dissemination on HPV chemicals in Japan. There have been, however, no descriptions of general policies on implementation of initial assessments of HPV chemicals on human health and the environment, we therefore examine present state of governmental HPV related programs in USA, EU and OECD, and ICCA HPV initiative, and consider who should do initial assessments and what information should be included in the public accessible database.

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There has recently been a breakthrough in nanotechnology, especially in research and development of nanomaterial, and commercialization is evolving at high speed. And yet at the same time, various concerns over hazardous property of nanomaterial are beginning to be widely expressed. Risk evaluation and management are now becoming the major factors to influence future development of nanomaterial and its global competitiveness in the field. In order to promote business activities and to ensure risk management, it is absolutely vital for us to improve predictability by enriching scientific knowledge basis of each nanomaterial and setting out social rules as quickly as possible, applying our experience and reservoir on integrated management of chemical substance.

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The OECD High Production Volume (HPV) Chemicals Programme started in 1992. Twenty-six countries of the OECD member countries participate in this programme at present. The first SIDS, Screening Information Data Set, Initial Assessment Meeting (SIAM) was held in Paris in 1993, and a total of twenty-one SIAMs were held until the end of 2005. In the first ten SIAMs, the governments of the member countries participated and submitted the SIDS documents of HPV chemicals in this programme. The International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) has been participating in this programme since 2001. The SIDS documents of 574 chemical substances have been agreed at the SIAMs. The Japanese government has been participating and submitting the SIDS documents in this programme since the first SIAM. The contribution of Japanese government to this programme is remarkable. This paper summarized the OECD HPV Programme.

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Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries decided to undertake the investigation of high production volume chemicals (HPV) in 1990, and the OECD HPV programme has been performed for an initial assessment to physical/chemical properties, exposure, ecotoxicity and human health since 1992. The summary records of the 19th and 20th SIDS (Screening Information Data Set) Initial Assessment Meetings (SIAMs) were previously reported. This paper introduces progress of the OECD HPV programme from the 1st to 18th SIAM. The initial assessment documents for a total of 445 substances were agreed through the 1st to18th SIAMs, and 99 documents were submitted by Japanese government. Among them, 42 documents were prepared with the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA), and all the documents that Japanese government submitted were agreed at the previous SIAMs.

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The 21st SIDS (Screening Information Data Set) Initial Assessment Meeting was held in Washington DC on 18th-21st October 2005. The initial assessment documents of 41 substances were submitted, and 36 were agreed at the meeting. The Japanese Government submitted the initial assessment documents of two substances, morpholine, 4-ethyl (CAS: 100-74-3) and 2-propen-1-ol (CAS: 107-18-6), and both documents were also agreed at the meeting. This paper reports the summary record of the 21st SIDS Initial Assessment Meeting.

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The 16^th Screening Information Data Set (SIDS) Initial Assessment Meeting (SIAM 16) was held at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) headquarters in Paris, France. The initial assessment documents of nine substances at SIAM 16 (CAS numbers: 79-00-5, 88-44-8, 93-68-5, 95-31-8, 98-54-4, 99-04-7, 150-90-3, 2439-35-2, 4016-24-4) were submitted by the Japanese Government with or without the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) and all of them were agreed at the meeting. In this report, the documents of these nine substances are introduced.

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The 17^th Screening Information Data Set (SIDS) Initial Assessment Meeting (SIAM 17) was held in Arona, Italy, hosted by the European Commission. The initial assessment documents of six substances (CAS numbers: 96-29-7, 118-79-6, 461-58-5, 611-19-8, 6165-51-1, 12125-02-9) at SIAM 17 were submitted by the Japanese Government with or without the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) and all of them were agreed at the meeting. In this report, the documents of these substances are introduced.

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