GRMS2: the Global Regulatory Monitoring System for Chemical Substances
Today, the automotive industry is facing the challenge of environmental compliance with increasingly rigorous legislation, regulations and standards. While both products and production processes are getting more and more complex, legal requirements are also getting stricter in areas such as fuel efficiency, exhaust emissions, product safety, noise and chemicals.
Figure 1: Increasing volume of global chemicals regulation and demand for chemical compliance in the automotive industry.
Throughout the entire automotive supply chain many chemicals are used on a daily basis. Every single automobile manufacturer and automotive association bears the responsibility of stewarding knowledge and control of chemicals in automotive production processes and products. In case of non-compliance, an automobile manufacturer may face several challenges, such as disruption of the supply chain, production stops, vehicle recalls, or penalties. Equally problematic are indirect effects such as damage to brand reputation and customer confidence.
Although efficient processes are already in place to monitor, analyse and implement new legal requirements in other environmental areas, so far the automotive industry had no complete and reliable system in place to provide an overview of global chemicals regulation. This made it difficult for all industry players involved to collect the required information at an early stage and to find out if proposed legislation would impact the automotive business.
Indeed, the proper management of chemicals supports innovation and economic growth, while minimising possible negative impacts on the environment and human health. At the same time, it assures compliance with the existing regulatory framework and allows for timely advocacy towards emerging and changing regulations.
Now, with the overall goal of optimising the sector’s performance, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) has developed together with the Yordas Group (formerly known as the ‘REACH Centre’) common and solid processes for monitoring the global regulation of chemical substances with an impact on the automotive industry. The result of this cooperation is the creation of the Global Regulatory Monitoring System for Chemical Substances (GRMS2).
To that end, the Yordas Group assesses the impact of existing and new draft legislation on the automotive industry. The results of this evaluation process are published in the format of summary fact sheets. Each fact sheet contains a short description of the regulation and the assessment results for the areas of product sales, production and the after-sales business. These fact sheets are stored and frequently updated in a central database that is accessible to all GRMS2 users.
Moreover, the GRMS2 tool allows industry players to track relevant regulations that are being drafted; enabling them to react in time. Building upon the comprehensive data that powers Yordas Group’s chemical compliance software ‘Yordas Hive’, GRMS2 also offers an alert function that notifies users about any update or amendment of relevant regulations worldwide.
The well-designed interface of GRMS2 enables users to search for regulations in an easy way (by word or substance) and through an advanced search menu with different possibilities to filter information – ie by name, country, assessment, legal status, etc.
Actively maintained by the experts at the Yordas Group, this tool will be ready for use in November 2018 and is scheduled to be rolled-out over a three-year period during which the number of evaluated existing regulations will continue to increase. Of course, new draft laws will be added as soon as they become known.
Interested in using GRMS2?
Non-ACEA members can request licenses for their company or organisation. If you are interested in free-trial access to the system, please contact the Yordas Group (contact@grms2.com). This will allow you to test all functionalities and convince yourself of the advantages of GRMS2.
