In each meeting of the Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN), the delegations have an opportunity to provide their developments on the safety of manufactured nanomaterials, so called “Tour de Table.” An earlier version of this document was originally provided to the 7th meeting held 7-9 July 2010 in Paris, France. This document compiles information provided by member countries and other delegations on current developments on the safety of manufactured nanomaterials (section I) in their countries or organisations. There are also written reports on current activities related to nanotechnologies/ nanomaterials in other International Organisations including the International Organisation for Standardisation, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the World Health Organisation (section II).

The Working Party endorsed this document at its 8th Meeting in March 2011. It is intended to provide information on the outcomes and developments of the WPMN related to the safety of manufactured nanomaterials.

This is intended to provide delegations and other stakeholders with a “snapshot” of information on activities related to manufactured nanomaterials, as well as other activities on nanotechnologies, at the national and international level.

The purpose of the Tour de Table is to give each delegation the opportunity to describe recent or planned national initiatives and/or events related to the safety of nanomaterials. This facilitates the implementation of the projects of the WPMN by allowing delegations to share their experiences and preoccupations with respect to safety, and identifies opportunities for future co-operation and co-ordination.

In considering the Tour de Table, each delegation was invited to prepare a short written paper. It was recommended that the information in these papers be organised, where possible, under the headings identified below, while recognising that not all delegations would be able to supply information under each heading.

1) Firstly, please provide a list of the latest developments in your country and organisation since the 7th meeting of the WPMN (July 2010) as highlights to appear at the top of your document.

2) Secondly, please identify work completed, underway or planned in your country or organisation, which relates to activities on health and environmental safety aspects of manufactured nanomaterials (focusing on the chemicals sector).

1. Any national regulatory developments on human health and environmental safety including recommendations or discussions related to adapting existing regulatory systems or the drafting of laws/ regulations/ guidance materials;

2. Developments related to voluntary or stewardship schemes;

3. Information on any risk assessment decisions;

4. Information on any developments related to good practice documents;

5. Information on any developments related to Integrated Testing Strategies and/or Alternative test methods;

6. Research programmes or strategies designed to address human health and/ or environmental safety aspects of nanomaterials;

7. Information on any public/ stakeholder consultation;

8. Information on research programmes or strategies which focus on life cycle aspects ofnanomaterials, as well as positive and negative impacts on environment and health of certain nanoenabled applications.