In real life, blends of chemicals exist in products. The key parts of introducing any single chemical is knowing the quantity AND how it is being used.

To correctly answer those key questions every year, Chemintro models real life for all your products, blends and all the chemicals they contain. That includes asking only the questions to which AICIS expects answers - once-only - for each product and each chemical.

Then Chemintro applies the law, regulations and AICIS Guidelines in all their complexity to correctly categorise each chemical. Unless they are already Listed of course - in which case it simply creates a Listing note and a Useful link to the standard reporting obligations. If there are special Listing requirements the Listing note may require an acknowledgement.

But then, Listing conditions might change. So Chemintro will notify you by email if any of your Listed chemicals are re-touched by AICIS.

In short, if you are introducing chemicals, Chemintro is exactly right for the job!

There are of course many other considerations. Feel free to ask any question.

For general info start on the home page. Click links in the page footer. Some are repeated in the top-left triple-bar menu. Clicking CHEMINTRO in the header always gets you back to the home page. Clicking CHEMINTRO in the footer always gets you to the top of the current page.

After login (top right) in the data entry part of the site, there is always a Main menu and 'breadcrumbs' navigation near the top of each page.

Look for the Chemical menu and select your chemical or click the Industrial chemicals + Add button or select your product or click the Products + Add button.

The chemical screen is a single page for all your data entry where (SHOW) and (HIDE) links keep things neat.

Introduction category and other detail in the Chemical screen can be computed when sufficient data, including product volumes, have been entered.

What you can see and do at the 'Main menu' depends on your assigned roles. Check them in your user profile or hover your mouse over the 'Main menu' or 'Logout' links (top right).

To get back to the website home page or this FAQ page from data entry, click the 'Website home' or 'FAQ' link visible at the top and bottom of every data entry page.

1. Check to see if it is already listed

   - Chemintro automatically searches the inventory for you and notes any asessment scope, conditions and/or obligations

   - If listed you can introduce it immediately

2. If not listed, categorise your chemical according to AICIS Guidelines

   - Chemintro does this for you

3. If you decide to introduce it, register your company with AICIS

   - You or your agent does this

4. Produce the Chemintro introduction report for your chemical

   - Use this to guide your pre-introduction report (PIR) or post-introduction declaration (PID) on the AICIS website and introduce your Reported or Exempted chemical

   - Use the Chemintro IUCLID6 style checklists and dossier management if your introduction is Assessed category

5. Be ready to answer AICIS questions if/when they ask

   - Chemintro predicts those questions during categorisation and manages your supporting information so you can more confidently answer them.

   - If you don't have access to supplier information, rely on Chemintro mechanisms to help comply with AICIS rules - see the compliance page.

• Information management for all your AICIS compliance needs
• Securely stores and protects all your information against unauthorised access
• Gives your Admin user complete control over who sees what
• Has an AI data retrieval function
• Auto-processes a list of CAS numbers to provide bulk AICIS inventory status
• Searches the AICIS inventory to see if a chemical is Listed and if so ...
• Creates an inventory listing status note for that chemical
• Tracks changes to AICIS listing terms and keeps that note current
• Provides auto-notification of changes so you don't miss them
• and if not ...
• Provides a useful link to search for an existing AICIS assessment or evaluation
• Categorises it as Exempted, Reported, Reported 10kg or Assessed
• Provides a bulk data entry facility for products and their ingredient chemicals
• Produces a chemical data report to show entered, auto-collected and generated data
• Produces an introduction report so you can make the AICIS declaration correctly
• Produces an annual summary so you can correctly make your AICIS annual declaration
• Saves an online information snapshot to reflect each year's annual declaration
• Produces a chemical-specific list of studies/tests which may be requested by AICIS
• Produces a Memorandum of Understanding for a supplier to satisfy the new (2024) AICIS rules
• Produces an automatic Chemical information holder: Basis of expectation template for your statement required for the new (2024) Rules
• Useful links for each chemical for online research and document management
• Checks your chemical against local and international reference tables - including for cosmetic ingredients
• Handles chemical blends as well as individual chemical ingredients
• Products can be branded for more detailed enterprise information analysis
• Generates workflow management notes under IUCLID6 headings for AICIS assessments including links to assembled documentation
• Provides a "what if" capability for product volumes and ingredients to help with business decisions

No. The Act requires that you make a declaration. Software should never declare anything on your behalf.

On the other hand, a good information management system should always deliver information in the format required and that is what Chemintro does for all your AICIS declaration needs including annual declarations.

Perhaps someone else has already registered your company. If so, the only person who can give you a login is your company's Admin user. Otherwise, get in touch to discuss possible alternatives.

Information is managed to satisfy the Act, the Rules, AICIS guidance and most importantly, to make life easier for you!

For a raw material (eg Product #1 in the diagram) the chemical being introduced is its only ingredient. Products (eg Products #2, #3 and #4) have other ingredients.

When any product's volume changes, all its ingredient chemicals volumes change according to individual proportions. This may change some categorisations where volumes are near a tipping point.

Data report is for reviewing data entry and workflow management. Introduction report shows categorisation and reveals the answers you want during AICIS online introduction.

On first saving with a valid CAS number, Chemintro automatically checks the AICIS inventory and makes the appropriate selection in the empty AICIS listing field from ...

• Searched for but not found
• Listed with standard reporting obligations and restrictions
• Listed with a defined scope of assessment
• Listed with conditions of introduction or use
• Listed with specific information requirements

There is another (manual) selection "Listed but NOT within any defined scope or conditions of introduction" in case you cannot comply. In that case, you need to apply formally to AICIS for a listing variation - or - simply categorise your chemical.

You can make the software repeat the search by blanking the field out and saving again.

Making the search yourself

On first saving with a valid CAS number, Chemintro also automatically creates three Useful links.

Scroll down to see this ...

You probably want "AICIS CAS number search".

If "Searched for but not found", the other two Useful links may throw light on your chemical from AICIS's viewpoint. In particular, the Google search should find any available documents containing your CAS number on the AICIS website.

In any case, you should make the applicable selection in the Chemintro AICIS listing field

You can re-generate these links by deleting them and selecting 'AICIS' in the Useful link creator field.

1. Enter the mandatory fields at the top of the Add chemical page and click which searches the internet and creates a few Useful links.
2. Assuming your chemical is not listed, the AICIS listing field will be set to 'Searched for but not found'
3. One at a time, open the first four (Show/Hide) concertina sections below the AICIS listing field and work your way down the page entering data
4. Ignore Auto-collected and structural information for the time being. Likewise ignore Checklist creator and Useful link creator. These may be handy later.
5. In the Chemical Hazards section, add any known hazards. Some may have been added already if you saved after entering properties or the system found your CAS number in any of the hazard databases it searches.
6. If your chemical is a polymer, add a polymer record. Enter the polymer data.
7. In the Product-Chemical Proportions section, the first record has been auto-created with a generated name and zero kilograms. For this FAQ we will assume just one product!
8. Reveal the record and click the yellow pencil icon to pop up the Product page. Correct the name of the product, select an End use and answer the 'Yes/No' questions. Finally enter Product volume and click Save to close the product popup page.
9. Adjust Precise proportion and Maximum end use concentration and click to calculate chemical volume.
10. At the top of the page, click to review the Data report. Click the back button or the link at the bottom of the report to return.
11. Reveal the Introduction section. Read the Report type help text regarding payment processing. This section carries all the categorisation results after saving with 'Introduction report' selected.
12. With 'Introduction report' saved, click to review the Introduction report. The link to the AICIS introduction page appears at the foot of the report.
13. Save Report type as 'Memorandum of Understanding' if you wish to reach an understanding with your overseas information provider.

It is often difficult to obtain information from suppliers and it would be nice occasionally to ask someone a question. Chemintro has deployed AI and for many chemical property fields you can "Ask AI".

Enabled fields have a drop-down selector with an option "Ask AI". For AI enabled numeric fields, enter -9 instead.

With "Ask AI" set in one or more fields, click . Each AI response will appear in a note with the same title as the field.

AI interactions have a cost but Chemintro is declaring "Ask AI" to be a 'beta-test' feature until at least January 2026 and will not charge anything. Positive and negative feedback is critical for improvement so please don't hesitate to contact us.

In 2022, AICIS changed the Rules to allow introductions up to 10kg per year with some non-negotiable hurdles but more relaxed rigour around proving the categorisation.

You still need to declare what you know in a pre-introduction report. But AICIS will not insist on studies and test reports - unless your declaration worries them

Chemintro will categorise your chemical as Reported <= 10 kg - Low risk if you wish. It will also create a note for you detailing any hurdles not cleared and - if so - will re-categorise into the correct category.

AICIS guidance is absolutely clear. They are only interested in individual chemicals being introduced in a blend. The only concession they offer is that you can submit a single Pre-Introduction Report for a Flavour or Fragrance blend provided all chemicals in it meet the criteria.

Low risk flavour or fragrance blends have their own categorisation rules.

In any case, blends can be a great boon for data entry - if you have many products with the same subset of chemical ingredients. Assemble the subset as a blend and add that to each product and presto!

If a product already has one of the blend chemicals, that proportion gets automatically adjusted!

Yes.

Here are the instructions for making brands work in Chemintro.

No ... but it helps. Chemintro uses it to collect information from the internet on the first save. Having the CAS number means essential knowledge about the chemical is obtainable by AICIS.

Also, not knowing the CAS number when it exists means you need a reasonable belief that the person who does know will provide it if requested by AICIS.

If a CAS number does not exist for your chemical, you need to know enough about its properties to allow the Chemintro software to categorise it from scratch.

Chemintro always creates an AICIS inventory status note for each chemical. Additionally, it keeps that note updated if and when AICIS changes the status of that chemical in the inventory. However, that means you must have already created that chemical in Chemintro. See 'What is bulk import?' below.

Bulk inventory status delivers a summary of the inventory status for each CAS number in a list of CAS numbers you provide - without inserting any chemicals in the database. That list can be pasted in or uploaded as a text file.

If you provide a list of CAS numbers, CAS number bulk import will generate skeletal chemical data entry for each one. The list can be pasted in or uploaded as a text file.

But there is more! If you wish to also include a product or blend name (and/or formulation number), Chemintro will treat each CAS number on that list as an ingredient of that product/blend/formulation.

Obviously this does not include proportions, volumes or product uses - but it does offer considerable labour saving. Chemicals are not duplicated in Chemintro which keeps the information perfectly synchronised with real life when CAS numbers are repeated in multiple product/CAS lists!

This is part of the subscription service for all Chemintro users.

If you switch it on, Chemintro will send you an email notification if and when the inventory status of your chemicals gets changed by AICIS.

Individual notifications prompt you to visit the chemical to discover and then acknowledge what the changed AICIS Listing note says.

The notification will be repeated every 13 weeks if not acknowleged. That 13 weeks is the default. It can be shortened to as little as a week. In fact for testing purposes, we leave a canary note unacknowledged and expect a weekly notification.

Bulk import of all your CAS numbers is the fastest way to get started with inventory monitoring.

Best practice is to create a separate company for each client.

It is necessary for you to create your own company in Chemintro as well to become a "base" for managing your own clients. This does not compromise security.

As you enter or change data on screen, that information needs to be saved to the database. The button lives at the top and/or bottom of each data entry page. If this smaller version appears in the middle of a page, clicking it will usually relocate to the top of the page where the real button is.

But that isn't the entire picture - it also triggers an immediate re-computation of outputs.

But that's still not all! If your re-computation depends on data stored in the database - as it usually does - if the data you are saving is the data needed in that computation and it isn't yet stored, you would have to click the button again to re-compute with the latest data.

In the data entry screen, means there is a report to be seen.

In the Chemical page, that link defaults to the Data Report. It shows all entered, generated and collected data. That includes Useful Links and Notes¹.

To switch across to the Introduction Report instead, open the Introduction section of the chemical page and change Report type from Data Report to Introduction Report as described by the help text.

There is also a third report - Memorandum of Understanding for Exempted and Reported introductions. This emphasises the need for suppliers to provide information to AICIS if requested.

¹ Usually Notes are shown at the end of the Data report in alphabetic order. However, if the exact wording of a field label appears in a Note title, that Note will relocate itself higher up in the Data report, directly below the field and its contents.

AICIS cares about declared end-uses and maximum concentrations of introduced chemicals in actual products to really understand the risk. Chemintro therefore needs that same product information to categorise the chemical.

Chemintro accurately keeps track of all your chemicals in all your products at all the different concentrations and accurately calculates total introduction volume for each chemical ingredient and considering product end-uses, computes AICIS categorisation for each chemical.

This functionality provides a bonus "what if" ability for chemical categorisations around volume tipping points.

Chemintro can categorise equally accurately based on a single pseudo-product per chemical with declared volume, product end-use and maximum concentration. Please note that pseudo-products are not permitted if chemical identity is opaque.

Yes, but ... for data entry efficiency, chemicals first or products first depends on commonality of ingredient chemicals in your product portfolio. If in doubt, chemicals first - or get in touch to discuss!

AICIS guidance includes a page of links to acceptable in-silico applications for QSAR/read-across chemical characteristics for both health and environment ...

https://www.industrialchemicals.gov.au/guide-categorising-your-chemical-importation-and-manufacture/appendix-silico-predictions-categorisation

For test guidelines, Chemintro has an OECD role which reveals (in the main menu) all the OECD tests which AICIS finds acceptable. Ask your Admin to give you that role.

The new (2024) rules have simplified salts and esters somewhat.

If your chemical is a salt or ester, AICIS have published short lists of chemicals for various health and environment hazards and require that you confirm your chemical is not a salt or ester of the chemicals in those lists.

If it is, the hazard is established as belonging to your chemical.

Previously, there were no such lists and salt/ester 'parents' had to be identified and have their hazards added to your chemical's hazards.

In line with the new rule, the software now detects whether your chemical is a salt or ester from its name and creates a note listing those AICIS nominated chemicals for you to more easily take responsibility for that confirmation or otherwise.

The Chemintro roadmap includes algorithmically determining if your chemical is a salt or ester from the SMILES and/or Standard InChI to more precisely create that note. See also Chemintro Ticket #100

See also the Useful link creator and Checklist creator section nearer the top of the chemical page. It has a Link creator selector which can make useful links to various public databases around the web for your chemical.

The software knows how to transfer responsibility to you! This happens automatically when an important note needs to be acknowledged. Such a note gets "Not yet acknowledged" appended when created. The software immediately detects that on saving and raises an error to bring it to your attention.

Any error forces you to deal with it before proceeding. If you alter "Not yet acknowledged" (NYA) you defeat the error and thereby acknowledge that you have seen the information.

That's not all ...

There is an opt-in email reminder system triggered by NYA noted chemicals. Typically this is used for notification that terms of an AICIS listing have changed.

But it can be used for other reasons. You can include your own notes in that system by appending "not yet acknowledged" to a note. Notice the lower-case. That bypasses the error on the next save and gets changed to "Not yet acknowledged" which re-enables it for the following save.

This lower-case trick lets you save without acknowledging. While this apparently defeats responsibility transfer, we are all adults here! You obviously want to keep NYA alive - maybe for ongoing notifications?

Document management in Chemintro is tailored for AICIS assessments and assumes completed documents are locally downloadable.

Notes represent documentation yet to be acquired and Useful links point to completed items.

While this can always be done manually, if a chemical is categorised as 'Assessed', the process commences automatically.

Chemintro creates two chemical Notes. These are both specific IUCLID6 checklists. One is for AICIS 'Required' items and the other for 'If available' items.

Different 'Checklist' notes can be generated for different categories. See the Checklist creator field drop-down selector in Chemical data entry.

Document and workflow management 'how to' ...

1.   In the Checklist creator field, select 'Generate a Note for every item in the Required checklist'

2.   Acquire the document specified in a generated Note and upload to your private storage

3.   Put the URL in the Note, change the Link field from 'No' to 'Yes' and

NB: Any Note can be converted to a Useful link in this way, making it an ideal mechanism for any workflow management.

Yes ... name the day and time and we can launch the Time Machine with your data loaded.

Also. Annual summaries have archived copies of Introductions for each year. These are archived on the Date submitted which is documented in each annual summary report.

Only if you leave your machine unattended in an insecure environment. Best practice is to lock your screen or log out manually when appropriate. Your in-house policies will define responsibilities here.

When adding a new user please observe the following security rules:

1. Add the new user with their correct email address. See 5 below
2. Protect the account with any strong temporary password - no need to write it down or remember it. See 4 below
3. Assign only the roles required for the new user to perform their work
4. Pass on the website URL (https://chemintro.com) to the new user BUT NOT the password
5. Ask the user to click 'Forgotten password' at login to get a password reset token via email

and

• Always disable the user login when someone leaves or takes holidays

See also, summary table of role permissions below

Allows creation of new users for the company plus the ability to assign any role (including Admin) to those users. Only the Admin role can see all users in their company. This role is auto-assigned to the first user, created during initial registration.

By assigning specific roles, the Admin user has complete control over data editing and visibility. See below.

Allows read-only access to Chemintro Introduction reports (not Data Reports) but no access to chemical data. Designed for keeping trade secrets when no other roles are assigned. Allows a local Agent to deal with AICIS when full disclosure is not immediately appropriate.

Allows chemical data entry for introductions. This is the key and only role required for a competent person hired to do chemical data entry for you. This role is also auto-assigned to the first user, created during initial registration.

The introducer needs this role. Allows adjusting company profile information, submitting Annual Declarations and monitoring invoicing and receipted transactions. This role is manually assigned by the Admin user(s).

Assigned by the Admin. It reveals the reference data used in Chemintro including OECD tests of interest to AICIS. Each entry in the OECD list carries the URL address for obtaining that test specification.

Allows viewing company detail on a read-only basis, editing your own profile and changing your own password. Everyone gets this role.

Top 

View/edit chemicals and products
and produce key reports

View Introduction reports and
Annual Summary reports

View OECD test guidelines and other
reference data.

Edit own User profile, change own
password and view own company