One assumption used in the estimation of benefits from the Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) Programme in the 2010 Cutting Costs in Chemicals Management report (OECD, 2010) was that companies that conducted safety testing and registered a new chemical in one country also did so in other markets in the OECD. In response to a survey conducted in 2008, the industrial chemicals and pesticides industries responded that the average number of markets in which their products were marketed was three. (The number of regions was used in the calculation of the benefits of the Mutual Acceptance of Data [MAD] due to a reduction in duplicative testing to multiple regions.) These three regions correlated with the main OECD regions: Asia/Pacific, Europe and North America.
For the current volume, the industrial chemicals and pesticides industries, as well as the biocides industry, were asked the same question. As noted in Annex A, companies in each sector responded that the average number of markets in which their products were marketed were: industrial chemicals (3); pesticides (3.5) and biocides (3.5).
This range is in line with what would be expected given the increase in the number of countries that are members of the OECD and also non-member full adherents to the MAD system since the 2010 report was published. In particular, the number of OECD countries has grown from 30 to 37 (including Colombia1), and 6 non-members are now full adherents to MAD.
Table C.1 lists the number of countries in each region of the world – except from the three original OECD regions – that either became OECD member countries after 2010 (highlighted in bold) or that are non-member full adherents to MAD (marked with an asterix). Further, the table provides the percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) in a region accounted for by the new OECD countries and full adherents, so as to reflect their relative significance in the markets in which chemicals can be traded more easily thanks to MAD.
In summary, the table shows that the number of new OECD countries2 or full adherents to MAD account for the following percentages of total GDP in their regions:
Asia (17%)
Latin America and the Carribean (79%)
sub-Shaharan Africa (23%)
Near East (16%).
Thus, it can reasonably be assumed that the number of regions in which industry benefits from MAD is between three and four.