Nguyễn Văn Thanh. — Photo baocongthuong.vn

Nguyễn Văn Thanh, director general of the Việt Nam Chemical Agency, under the Ministry of Industrial and Trade, talks to Công Thương (Industry and Commerce) newspaper about developing the national chemical database and how it will operate

What has the Việt Nam Chemical Agency achieved in the course of developing the national chemical database?

Under the instruction from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOIT), the Việt Nam Chemical Agency has developed a list of national chemicals and the national chemical database.

In our course of developing the database we have received support from the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA). Under an agreement signed between the MOIT and JICA, the database has been developed and completed in three years – from 2015-2018. It is expected that on January 15, 2019, the national database will officially be put into operation.

What’s the significance of the operation of the database, particularly for enterprises?

The database contains all information on legal matters, including policies and guidelines in the use of chemicals in the country as well as administrative procedures relating to the import-export as well as business and use of chemicals. In other words, a key objective of the database is to facilitate the management of central and local agencies on the use of chemical agents and to address the need of Vietnamese enterprises.

We all know that chemical agents are harmful to people’s health and the environment. Our database will help Vietnamese enterprises avoid chemical hazards that might occur during their use or storage. Further, our data base also offers enterprises some knowledge on how to classify different types of chemicals in labelling according to their harms.

We hope the database will help save time for enterprises and help them learn how to use chemicals properly.

Does the Việt Nam Chemical Agency plan to help enterprises make best use of the database?

After January 15, when our national chemical database will be put into operation, the Việt Nam Chemical Agency will regularly update the software to offer better services to users. At the same time, we’ll connect our website with that of Việt Nam Customs Office Website to make it a ‘one stop shop’ for all customers to help enterprises better manage and use the chemicals they need during daily operation.

Last but not least, we’ll organise regular workshops to update the latest information on chemical development internationally. We hope these events will serve as a bridge linking us with the enterprises on how to keep the database “alive”.

In my opinion, in the era of the 4.0 Industrial Revolution, the database will become a useful tool for Vietnamese enterprises and agencies to make the right decisions on chemical usage.— VNS