FAQ - beginning
How do I introduce my chemical into Australia?
What are Chemintro's features?
What does it cost to introduce a chemical?
Does Chemintro introduce my chemical on the AICIS system?
Chemintro won't let me register my company. Why?
FAQ - operations
Talk me through my first introduction please. See also Chemintro's worked example videos.
Can I use brands to manage information?
Do I really need the CAS number?
I'm a consultant with multiple clients, so how do I set up Chemintro?
Why have chemicals and products?
Where can I find in-silico applications and test guidelines?
Why are salt and/or ester parent hazards affecting categorisation?
How do I create a Useful link?
Document management system? Top
FAQ - security
Can I go back in time to review earlier data?
Is staying logged in a security risk?
Security rules for adding a new user?
How do I introduce my
chemical into Australia?Top
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| 1. Check to see if it is already listed - Chemintro automatically searches the inventory for you and
notes any asessment scope, restrictions and/or obligations - If listed you can introduce it immediately 2. If not already 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 consultant or agent does this 4. Produce the Chemintro Introduction report for your chemical › see ![]() - Use this to guide your declaration at the appropriate time on
the AICIS website to introduce your chemical 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.
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Chemintro features
Top | |
| Chemintro is information management software which securely collects your input and processes it against the Industrial Chemicals Act 2019, the Industrial Chemicals (General) Rules 2019 and AICIS's Industrial Chemicals Categorisation Guidelines and which:
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What does it cost to
categorise a chemical using Chemintro?Top
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› Once-only
Chemintro charge to determine introduction category and predict AICIS information
requirements for Assessed, Reported, Reported <= 10kg or Exempted categories. › No-charge for Listed, Commercial
Evaluation or Exceptional Circumstances categories › No-charge for information management
- for all categories - to support AICIS obligations including annual reports and
document management for assessments
But what does it cost to introduce a chemical? |
|
›
Annual AICIS fee
- for your own corporate registration. Varies with value of previous year introductions.
› Once-only AICIS fee per introduction.
Varies according to category and focus. Visit our simple AICIS
fee calculator to see exactly. |
Does Chemintro
introduce my chemical on the AICIS system?Top
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| No. The Act requires that you personally make a legal declaration. Unlike public accountants with the ATO, we are not an agent of AICIS. Chemintro plus your input delivers results used by you to guide your declarations on the AICIS website. |
How do I get started?
Top | |
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› Register to
establish your company in Chemintro and your own Admin login › You will arrive at a form to begin
entering chemical data › Follow our on-screen help text and
prepare to be amazed!
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Chemintro won't let
me register my company. Why?Top | |
| 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. |
How do I get around
the site?Top | |
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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 'Logged in/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 of every data entry page. |
Chemintro overview
Top | |
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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. |
Is my chemical listed?
Top | |
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If the AICIS listing field is blank, Chemintro will automatically check the AIIC inventory to see if your chemical is listed and will make the appropriate selection in that field from ...
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 to AICIS for a variation or simply categorise your chemical. You can make the software repeat the search by blanking the field out and saving. 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 not found, the other two Useful links may throw light on your chemical from AICIS's viewpoint. In particular, the Google search should find all 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. |
Talk me through my
first introduction please. See also Chemintro's
worked example videos.
Top | |
|
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What about tiny
quantities?Top | |
| In late November 2022, AICIS changed the Rules to allow introductions of up to 10kg per year with somewhat relaxed rigour around proving the categorisation. Risk being a function of hazard and exposure, obviously having a few hurdles to eliminate the most hazardous chemicals, and smaller quantities, the risk is logically lower. 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. |
What is it about blends?
Top | |
| AICIS guidance is absolutely clear. They are only interested in individual chemicals being introduced in a blend. Even so, blends are a great boon for data entry. In Chemintro you can pre-assemble blends and add them to products as desired! If different blends have some of the same chemicals - proportions get automatically adjusted! Here are the instructions for making blends work in Chemintro. |
Can I use brands to
manage information? Top | |
| Yes. Here are the instructions for making brands work in Chemintro. |
Do I really need the
CAS number?Top | |
| No ... but it helps. Chemintro uses it to collect information from the internet on the first save. Also, not knowing the CAS number when it exists means you need a written undertaking from the person who does know, that they will provide it if requested by AICIS. |
I'm a consultant with
multiple clients, so how do I set up Chemintro?Top
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| Best practice is to create a separate company for each client. For very small clients, you might create a separate division per client within your own company to segregate their chemicals. Chemintro Support would be able to manually swap such a division to a new client company on request. |
Save and continue
editing?Top
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As you enter or change data on screen, that information needs to be saved to the
database. The 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. |
View on site? Three
reports, one buttonTop | |
| In the data entry screen,
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 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. |
Why have chemicals
and products?Top |
|
| 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. |
Can I create products
first?Top | |
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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! |
Where can I find
in-silico applications and test guidelines?Top
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AICIS guidance includes a page of links to acceptable in-silico applications for QSAR/read-across chemical characteristics for both health and environment ... 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. |
Why are salt and/or
ester parent hazards affecting categorisation?Top
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|
AICIS says those hazards exist, therefore Chemintro adds them. In this case the software creates a Note entitled Salt and/or ester parent hazards showing which parental hazards have been auto-inserted. You can always add your own hazards in Chemintro to influence categorisation but if in your expert judgement one or more salt and/or ester parent hazards are inappropriate, you may defeat the software! This is how:
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How do I create a
Useful link?Top | |
| 1. On the 'Chemical' page click ![]() - That will insert a new, empty Link record with a Show link 2. Click the Show link to reveal the empty record - Show will become Hide 3. Name the link - Link name is mandatory 4. Paste in any web address pertaining to the chemical - The address will become clickable after saving. It should be
noted for link security that members of your company with the Author role will be
able to see it in Chemintro. 5. Optionally, write a synopsis of what the link does and click ![]() 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. |
Document management
system?Top | |
| 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 The Note will be converted into a Useful
link. If a URL is detected in the note, it will become the Link URL.
NB: Any Note can be converted to a Useful link in this way, making it an ideal mechanism for any workflow management. |
Can I go back in time
to review earlier data?Top | |
| 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. |
Is staying logged in
a security risk?Top | |
| 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. |
Security rules for
adding a new userTop | |
| When adding a new user please observe the following security rules:
and
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What are Chemintro roles? Top
See also, summary table of role permissions below |
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Admin role |
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. |
Agent role |
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. |
Author role |
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. |
Manager role |
The introducer needs this role. Allows adjusting company profile information, submitting Annual Declarations, purchasing bulk package deals and monitoring invoicing and receipted transactions. This role is manually assigned by the Admin user(s). |
OECD role |
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. |
User role |
Allows viewing company detail on a read-only basis, editing your own profile and changing your own password. Everyone gets this role. Top |
Role description | Admin | Author | Manager | Agent | OECD | User |
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Create new users and assign roles, disable and enable logins and view/ edit own company member profiles |
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View/edit chemicals and products |
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View Introduction reports and |
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View/edit corporate profile, monitor transactions and purchase bulk package deals for Introductions |
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View OECD test guidelines and other |
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Edit own User profile, change own |