Australian Inventory of Chemical Substances

The Australian Inventory of Chemical Substances (AICS) is the legal instrument that distinguishes new from existing chemicals. AICS is a listing of all industrial chemicals in use in Australia between 1 January 1977 and 28 February 1990. In addition, it includes new assessed chemicals and corrections, as required.

AICS is maintained under the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS) and contains over 38,000 chemicals. AICS is a list of chemical identity data; it does not contain information on toxicity, use, manufacturers or importers. It consists of a non-confidential (public) section and a confidential section.

Any chemical not included in AICS is regarded as a new industrial chemical unless it is outside the scope of the Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Act 1989 OR is otherwise exempt from notification. New industrial chemicals must be notified and assessed before being manufactured or imported into Australia.

Chemicals listed in AICS can be imported or manufactured in Australia without having to notify NICNAS as a new chemical, unless exempt.

Chemicals assessed by NICNAS are identified in AICS online by the "Assessed by NICNAS" flag. For chemicals where the assessed flag is "yes", there may be secondary notification requirements.