Chemical Regulatory Updates: Middle East and Africa

Sok-Han gains her industry experience as an independent regulatory affairs consultant, with a focus on Japan, South Korea and other Asian markets. She serves as a conduit between the Japanese market and the rest of the world, assisting industry in navigating through complex compliance frameworks. Her specialty is in food and beverage, food contact, health supplement and cosmetic products. Sok-Han is a fluent speaker of Cantonese, Japanese, Korean and Mandarin.

Bob Diderich has been involved in environmental hazard and risk assessment of chemical substances since 1992. In 2002 he joined the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development where he was in charge of the OECD Cooperative Chemicals Assessment Programme and the OECD Project on (Quantitative) Structure Activity Relationships. Since 2012 he is the head of the Environment, Health and Safety Division.

Dr. Sam Adu-Kumi is the outgoing Programmes Coordinator and Focal Person for the Chemical and Waste-related Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and Frameworks in Ghana. He was the Director of the Chemicals Control and Management Centre of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Ghana. A position he occupied from 2012 until September 2021. Sam holds a PhD degree in Nuclear and Environmental Protection from the University of Ghana with expertise in environmental fate, human exposure, and health risk assessment of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Dr. Sam Adu-Kumi served as the President of the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and also served as a member of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC) and co-chair of the Specific International Programme which is a financial mechanism under the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

Mr. Griffins Ochieng is the co-founder and the Executive Director of the Centre for Environment Justice and Development (CEJAD), a public interest non-governmental organisation working on chemicals and waste management in Kenya. Griffins is a co-chair of the IPEN Toxic Plastic Working Group and a Steering Committee member of the international NGOs network, IPEN (International Pollutants Elimination Network). He is also a former co-chair, of the NGOs major group at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Griffins Ochieng holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science from Kenyatta Uni­versity). At CEJAD, he also serves as the Programme’s Coordinator, managing a portfolio of various projects related to chemicals and waste management including heavy metals such as mercury and lead, plastics and waste management, Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) elimination among others.

Emel Kasim provides research, analysis and monitoring of EHS-related governmental legislations and non-EHS related (food and beverages, materials and substances in contact with food contact and cosmetics) regulations in the Middle East and Africa region. She has a background in food engineering and master's in food business and consumer studies. According to needs, she authors written overviews of certain regulations and provides ad hoc consulting services.

Programme officer in the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Chemicals and Waste Management Programme. Leading UNITAR’s portfolio on the GHS since 2015, coordinating the GHS e-Learning course, managing national capacity building projects, researching the status of global GHS implementation, and serving as UNITAR’s focal point to the Global Partnership to Implement the GHS.

Nidia Mariana Calvo Mendez joined Enhesa Product Intelligence's Expert Services team as Managing Analyst almost 3 years ago. She oversees regulatory content and service relating to products in the Americas, and coordinates the global analyst team from her base in Guadalajara, Mexico. Prior to joining Enhesa Product Intelligence, Nidia spent her career in industries conducting regulatory analysis and risk management mainly for Latin America. She also has experience in TSCA, GHS, performing audits, and obtaining ISO 140001 certification

Olesia is part of both sales and business development and legal teams at REACHLaw, combining expertise in regulatory business strategy and corporate legal matters. She has an educational background in law and international business and has been with REACHLaw since 2010, working on global chemicals regulations and contract management. She has experience working with customers from various industries, including chemicals, petrochemicals, metals, and specialty chemicals, supporting them with regulatory and legal requirements. In addition to her role in business development, she is responsible for managing contracts and handling corporate legal matters within the company. In recent years, Olesia has focused on chemicals regulations outside the EU, including UK REACH, Turkey KKDIK, K-REACH, Ukraine REACH, and other global chemicals regulations, assisting companies with compliance. Olesia speaks English and Ukrainian fluently and has a good command of Finnish.

Melih has several years’ experience in dealing with Global Chemical Control legislation. He established CRAD A.S. as a founder partner having worked in the chemical industry for 16 years. He then formed CRAD adding a team of regulatory consultants with professional expertise. He and his team now provide support to a large number of clients on REACH, CLP and Turkish Regulatory compliance.

Shimshon Roth lives in Jerusalem, Israel and works remotely for global businesses providing regulatory monitoring services covering the Israeli chemicals control legislation.

Mr. Wenk is internationally recognized global product stewardship and regulatory affairs professional with over 27 years of experience successfully directing and developing domestic and international product stewardship and regulatory compliance programs in multiple Fortune 100 companies. He pairs extensive regulatory expertise with a well-developed understanding of corporate operations, providing a highly unique blend of business operations knowledge and technical acumen. Well-versed in corporate mergers and acquisitions, specifically regulatory due diligence for acquisition of global chemical manufacturing firms. Among these were a $200 million pulp and paper chemicals business as well as a $110 million polymer chemical manufacturing firm.

Olivier has a background as a chemical engineer and started his career as a consultant and later head of section in safety risk management. Since he moved to Bangkok, Olivier has worked as a consultant for UNEP in the then SAICM Secretariat. He is currently under the chemicals and health branch of UNEP and supports the work of SAICM’s successor, the Global Framework on Chemicals.