It’s important to remember that the life sciences sector is comprised of a wide variety of businesses, ranging from small niche service providers to global-scale pharmaceutical companies employing tens if not hundreds of thousands of people.
It is not surprising, therefore, that various governmental regulations enacted in different jurisdictions can have very widely different effects on companies in the sector. Recently, US chemical trade association SOCMA has expressed a number of concerns with respect to the impact of proposed American legislation on smaller companies. It submitted its comments to the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee expressing its support for the Trade Advisory Committee System, which consists of industry representatives who advise the Office of the US Trade Representative and the Department of Commerce on technical issues.
SOCMA welcomed the opportunity for smaller companies to have their say on trade issues, particularly in light of the fact that most large companies already have the resources to present their interests effectively to government. SOCMA stated that the ITAC system appropriately allows smaller companies to give their input to government officials.
Chemical site security
Another issue of concern to SOCMA, and again affecting the interests of smaller companies, is that of the US government’s approach to chemical site security regulations. SOCMA has expressed its concern over the impact of the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009 on batch chemical manufacturers and small businesses. In particular, it is concerned about the operation of the inherently safer technology (IST) mandate, which it says could allow individuals to sue facilities for non-compliance. It supports making permanent the original chemical site security regulation, which is still in the early stages of implementation. SOCMA says an environmental approach (IST) is not appropriate in addressing a security issue and that the provision could have severe economic consequences for companies, especially for smaller ones.
And in Europe?
It’s good to see that a trade association has the integrity and willpower to stand up for the interests of its small-company members in the face of inappropriate, and possibly threatening, legislation. In Europe, we haven’t seen the likes of this since the furore over the propsed EU chemicals registration legislation REACH, and in the end the European Commission got most of what it wanted in this regard. It will be interesting to see just how successful SOCMA will be in its efforts to defend the interests of its small-company members, and whether there might be something in SOCMA’s approach that other trade associations can learn from. I’m not saying European trade associations don’t do their best to represent the interests of their members, but as I said at the beginning, there are a wide variety of companies in the life sciences sector and we need to ensure that the needs of all are catered for.
