Have your say: revisions to the Categorisation Guidelines in 2026

Updates to the list of chemicals with high hazards for categorisation (list) – for information only

This list is a downloadable resource that some importers and manufacturers may need to use when working out their introduction category. It is a list of chemicals that trusted national and international sources consider to be highly hazardous to human health or the environment. The information sources of the list are in Appendix 8.1 of the Guidelines.

Adding and updating chemicals on the list

We will add 294 chemicals to the list in September 2026:

• 81 of these are chemicals that AICIS has assessed or evaluated since the last update to the list.
• 215 of these are chemicals from other list sources.
• 2 of these chemicals are being added as a result of both an AICIS evaluation and their addition to another list source.

These chemicals have at least one hazard characteristic in:

• human health hazard band C, or
• environment hazard band C or D.

Therefore, most introductions of these chemicals will not be eligible for the exempted or reported categories at steps 4 and 5 of the categorisation process.  

We will also update 121 chemicals that are already on the list. These are chemicals that have been added to another source of the list that they were not previously on, or where the details of a chemical’s hazards have changed within an existing source.

Based on current information we have from pre-introduction reports and post-introduction declarations, we expect that only a small number of importers or manufacturers will be impacted by adding these chemicals to the list. We’ll contact these introducers before adding these chemicals to the list.  

See the chemicals being added or updated on the list in the spreadsheet below:

Download

Chemicals that will be added to the list or updated in 2026 [XLXS 42 KB]

Removal of chemicals from the list

We will remove the following 2 chemicals from the list, as they no longer appear in the original source documents:  

• 1,1,1-trichloroethane (CAS number 71-55-6)
• fluoro(triphenyl)stannane (CAS number 379-52-5).

Even though these 2 chemicals will be removed from the list, they are subject to other regulatory mechanisms that will still limit their introduction into Australia.

Correction of a CAS number on the list

We will correct the CAS number on the list for bis(pentachlorophenyl) carbonate to 7497-08-7.

High hazard salts and esters – open for comment

We propose to include the following 5 chemicals, which were the subject of an evaluation (EVA00122), in part 6.5.2 of the Guidelines (information required to demonstrate the absence of the developmental toxicity hazard characteristic).

Introducers may need to check that their introductions are not a salt or ester of the specified chemicals during the categorisation process.  

The exception criteria for these chemicals would be the same as for most of the other chemicals listed in this part of the Guidelines. These are:

• The salt/ester is a high molecular weight polymer, with low levels of low molecular weight species.
• The molecular weight of the salt/ester is greater than or equal to 1,000 g/mol. 

Single definition for ‘chemical identity holder’ – open for comment

Currently, there are 2 definitions of ‘chemical identity holder’. One relates to introduction of industrial chemicals that are in a flavour or fragrance blend and another relates to other industrial chemicals. However, the General Rules no longer refer to a ‘chemical identity holder’ in section 42 following the General Rules updates in April 2024.

Therefore, we propose to:

• Delete the definition regarding the introduction of flavour or fragrance blends.
• Update the definition of ‘chemical identity holder’ to more accurately describe the use of this term in the General Rules.

As a result, there will be a single updated definition of a ‘chemical identity holder’ in relation to an industrial chemical.  

These changes to the definition of a ‘chemical identity holder’ do not impact or alter the regulatory obligations or requirements for flavour or fragrance blend introductions and submission of pre-introduction reports. 

Updated links and minor editorial changes – for information only

Known hazard classification (part 2.1.5)

Safe Work Australia has updated the document that is mentioned in part 2.1.5 of the Guidelines. This document describes the classification criteria for non-GHS hazard statements, which are part of the Guidelines definition of ‘known hazard classification’.

We will replace Safe Work Australia’s guidance document with their latest guide for classifying hazardous chemicals, as shown: 

We will also update the title of the Safe Work Australia guidance document to the new guide name, as shown: 

Minor editorial changes

These are fixing spelling or grammatical errors and inconsistencies, as well as updating outdated or broken links. We have described these in detail below for information only.

Consistent spacing around symbols

•  For consistency and correctness, we will standardise the use of space between numbers and symbols.
• Where there is a <, >, ≥, or ≤ symbol we will insert a space in between the number and symbol.

Alphabetisation of definitions

In part 6.1 (Definitions of additional terms used within this Part of the Guidelines), we will arrange the definitions alphabetically.

Updated webpage link to an in-silico model

We will correct the link to the in-silico model “Tox21” that can be used for predicting skin sensitisation in Part 8.2, as shown:

Spelling correction

The name of Tab #2 of the ‘List of chemicals with high hazards for categorisation’ will change from “Consolodated List” to “Consolidated List”.

Capitalisation correction

In part 8.4.1 (Acceptable test guidelines for human health hazard characteristics), we will change 2 words to lowercase in the table row for ‘Acute oral toxicity – in vitro’ in the ‘Equivalent test guidelines’ column. These are shown in bold below:

Replace 'provide an overview' with 'show'

Use of the word “overview” in Part 8.2 of the Guidelines may be misleading. Therefore, we will replace this with ‘show’.