Skip to main content

Guide to categorising internationally assessed introductions

There is a streamlined way to categorise introductions of chemicals that have been assessed overseas.

Who should use this guide?

Use this guide if you are using an international assessment report that we accept. This is extra information to help you follow Step 4.2: Introductions that can be low risk for human health and Step 5.2: Introductions that can be low risk for the environment. in our Categorisation Guide.

If you plan to use your chemical in a similar way to how it’s used overseas, your consideration of the criteria in this guide will most likely be straightforward and quick.

Using international assessments for categorisation

If a trusted overseas body has assessed your introduction and it meets the criteria described in this guide, you are eligible to use the internationally assessed pathway as a low-risk introduction for human health or the environment (or both).

For the full list of trusted overseas bodies that we accept, see Step 1 of Internationally assessed for human health only and Step 1 of Internationally assessed for the environment only.

The information in this guide will help you to work out whether your introduction could be one of the following:

  • internationally assessed for human health
  • internationally assessed for the environment
  • internationally assessed for both human health and the environment

What is 'internationally assessed for human health only' 

If a trusted overseas body has assessed your introduction for human health and you meet all other criteria in this guide related to human health, your indicative risk to human health is low.

You can also use our decision tool to work out if your introduction is low risk for human health.

If there is no assessment for the environment from a trusted overseas body, or there is one but it doesn’t meet all our criteria related to the environment, then you must go back to our categorisation guide and determine the risk to the environment. 

If you work out that the indicative environment risk of your introduction is low or very low, you can categorise it as a reported introduction. You need to submit a pre-introduction report (PIR) in AICIS Business Services and select ‘internationally assessed for human health but not for the environment’. 

See our guide to help you submit a PIR: internationally-assessed for human health but not the environment

What is 'internationally assessed for the environment only'

If a trusted overseas body has assessed your introduction for the environment and you meet all other criteria in this guide related to the environment, your indicative risk to the environment is low.  

You can also use our decision tool to work out if your introduction is low risk for the environment.

If there is no assessment for human health from a trusted overseas body, or there is one but it doesn’t meet all our criteria related to human health, then you must go back to our categorisation guide and determine the risk to human health.

If you work out that the indicative human health risk of your introduction is low or very low, you can categorise it as a reported introduction. You need to submit a pre-introduction report in AICIS Business Services and select ‘internationally assessed for the environment but not for human health’. 

See our guide to help you submit a PIR: internationally-assessed for the environment but not human health

What is 'internationally assessed for both human health and the environment'

If a trusted overseas body has assessed your introduction for both human health and environment and you meet all other criteria in this guide, the indicative risk to human health and environment is low and you can categorise it as a reported introduction.

You need to submit a pre-introduction report in AICIS Business Services and select ‘internationally assessed for both human health and the environment’.

See our guide to help you submit a PIR: internationally-assessed for human health and the environment

What if my introduction meets the criteria for very low risk? 

If you wish, you can choose to work through our categorisation guide to see if the indicative risk to human health or the environment is very low. If it meets the criteria for very low indicative risk to both human health and the environment, you can categorise it as an exempted introduction.


In this guide:

Last updated
Was this page helpful?
For broken links or technical issues, please provide as much detail as possible. Do not include your name, email address and other personal or commercially sensitive information.

Keep informed with updates