On 14 June 2022, the World Trade Organization released the draft decree of the list of materials exempted from Halal certification notified by Indonesia. This decree has entered into force from December 27, 2021. A series of raw materials and chemical substances lists were released. The raw materials and substances in the lists are identified as halal materials and can be exempted from Halal certification due to their properties. Known as the Halal Positive Lists, it not only includes many natural sources of ingredients such as essential oil, menthol and neroli oil but also over 4000 synthetic chemicals, including titanium dioxide and pigments. Raw materials and chemicals included in the Halal Positive List can be directly exported to Indonesia without fulfilling the obligation of Halal certification, which significantly eases the trade burden of enterprises.

In January 2022, the RCEP Agreement entered into force, covering 10 ASEAN countries, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. After RCEP comes into effect, more than 90% of the trade of goods in the region will eventually achieve zero tariffs, which involves the chemical industry with more than 1,000 tariff numbers of RCEP origin rules, benefiting the import and export trade of chemicals. Within the RCEP coverage, most countries, including China, have adopted GHS classification and labelling systems, which requires the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) and labels of chemicals to comply with the GHS-related regulations and standards of each country and region.

Vietnam has reopened the supplementation of Vietnam Chemical Substance Inventory and the supplementation will be closed on 15 Apr. 2021. The first round of substance supplementation was closed on 31 May 2020. Many companies fail to submit the applications for supplementation in the first round as there is not enough time to collect substance information. Information Required for Inventory Supplementation Includes: Manufacturer and its address; Vietnamese importer; CAS No.; S