​The Corporate Sustainability Newsletter is produced quarterly by The Isosceles Group. It focuses on major trends and developments in the areas of corporate sustainability and social responsibility, enabling companies to stay ahead of the curve on important and emerging issues. Hyperlinks to relevant information and studies have been provided if you are interested in obtaining further details on a particular topic. The March 2017 Corporate Sustainability Quarterly Newsletter covers the period of mid-November 2016 to mid-February 2017. Sustainability updates for specific countries can also be provided upon request. If you have any questions about the presented materials or would like additional information on any of the topics, please contact Brittany Palmer at [email protected].

​Tianjin recently released 2017 Work Points associated with production emergency response. The municipal government is aiming to strengthen emergency response teams, better rescue effort delegation, improve corporation emergency response management work, push for corporation emergency contingency plan drafts, and further emergency response education and training. The Work Points specifically aims to improve online monitoring and general risk assessment by drafting a municipal potential risks map for more accurate prevention efforts. 

​On April 18, 2017, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs adopted amendments to regulations concerning the design and organization of work places and premises. The new regulations amend the regulation of 6 December 2011 No. 1356 on the same topic. Under the new regulations, storage locations with substances or compositions that may cause health hazards must be marked with warning signs of General Danger. In addition, areas, rooms, or enclosures used to store large amounts of substances or compositions which may pose hazards must be marked with appropriate safety signs. These regulations came into force immediately. 

​The Ministry of Environment for South Korea (MoE) has designated 23 substances under the Toxic Chemical Substance List (TCSL). The MoE published this decision via MoE Announcement No. 2017-76. The list of 23 toxic substances can be found on the MoE website. With this most recent designation, importers should conduct import notification of covered substances within six months. In addition, entities that manufacture, trade, store, transport or use the newly added toxic chemicals must comply with licensing requirements and safety requirements for facilities, equipment and technical personnel qualifications within two years of implementation. Lastly, those who handle of these newly added toxic chemicals are subject to labeling requirements for covered substances within six months. 

​A bill has been proposed to the Senate of Brazil to prohibit the extraction, industrialization, import, transport, and storage of asbestos, minerals, and rocks containing hydrated silicates in the country. The bill also proposes a ban on the importation and marketing of products that use asbestos and hydrated silicates as raw material. Under this proposed bill, a step-by-step implementation schedule would allow the mining, industrial, and commerce sectors to adapt to and comply with the ban. The proposed bill is currently before the Infrastructure Committee for review.