Vol. 150, No. 14 — July 13, 2016

Registration

SOR/2016-164 June 22, 2016

CANADA CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY ACT

Asbestos Products Regulations

P.C. 2016-591 June 21, 2016

His Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Health, pursuant to section 37 of the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (see footnote a), makes the annexed Asbestos Products Regulations.

Asbestos Products Regulations

Interpretation

Definitions

1 The following definitions apply in these Regulations.

asbestos product means a product that contains any type of asbestos, including actinolite, amosite, anthophyllite, chrysotile, crocidolite, cummingtonite, fibrous erionite and tremolite. (produit en amiante)

display surface means any part of the surface area of an asbestos product or its container on which the information required by these Regulations can be displayed, but does not include the surface area of the bottom, of any seam or of any concave or convex surface near the top or the bottom of the product or container. (aire d’affichage)

main display panel means any part of the display surface that is displayed or visible under normal conditions of sale to the consumer and includes

Requirements

Non-crocidolite Asbestos Products

Use and composition

2 (1) An asbestos product that does not contain crocidolite must not be a product that is

Particular products

(2) An asbestos product that does not contain crocidolite that is set out in column 1 of the table to this subsection must meet the requirements set out in column 2.

TABLE TO SUBSECTION 2(2)

Non-Crocidolite Asbestos Products

Item

Column 1

Column 2

Non-crocidolite asbestos product

Requirements

1

A textile fibre product that is worn on the person

(a) The product provides protection from fire or heat hazards.

(b) A person who uses the product in a reasonably foreseeable manner cannot come into contact with airborne asbestos from the product.

2

A product that is used by a child in learning or play

Asbestos cannot become separated from the product.

3

Drywall joint cement or compound, or spackling or patching compound, that is used in construction, repair or renovation

Asbestos cannot become separated from the product during its post-manufacture preparation, application or removal.

4

A product that is applied by spraying

(a) The asbestos is encapsulated with a binder during spraying.

(b) The materials that result from the spraying are not friable after drying.

Crocidolite Asbestos Products

General requirements

3 Subject to section 4, an asbestos product must not contain crocidolite unless the following requirements are met:

CONTAINS CROCIDOLITE ASBESTOS — CONTIENT DE L’AMIANTE CROCIDOLITE

TABLE TO SECTION 3

Crocidolite Asbestos Products

Item

Asbestos product that contains crocidolite

1

Asbestos cement pipe

2

Torque converter

3

Diaphragm for chloralkali production

4

Acid and temperature resistant seal, gasket, gland packing or flexible coupling

5

A product that is composed of or contains one or more of the asbestos products set out in items 1 to 4

Asbestos product imported for manufacturing

4 A person may import an asbestos product that is composed entirely of crocidolite for the purpose of manufacturing a product set out in item 3 or 4 of the table to section 3 if both of the following conditions are met:

CONTAINS CROCIDOLITE ASBESTOS — CONTIENT DE L’AMIANTE CROCIDOLITE

Format of statement

5 The statement required under paragraphs 3(d) and 4(b) must be printed in bold-faced type that has the following minimum height:

TABLE TO SECTION 5

Minimum Height of Type

Item

Column 1

Column 2

Area of main display panel

Minimum height of type (mm)

1

250 cm2 or less

2

2

More than 250 cm2 but not more than 1 000 cm2

6

3

More than 1 000 cm2 but not more than 3 500 cm2

12

4

More than 3 500 cm2

24

Repeal

6 The Asbestos Products Regulations (see footnote 1) are repealed.

Coming into Force

Registration

7 These Regulations come into force on the day on which they are registered.

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the regulations.)

Issues

On June 20, 2011, the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (CCPSA) came into force and replaced Part I and Schedule I to the Hazardous Products Act (HPA). The CCPSA modernized and strengthened consumer product safety laws to further help protect the health and safety of Canadians. Leading up to this, in February 2011, several consumer product regulations made under the HPA were amended, replaced or newly enacted in order to address regulatory gaps which would otherwise have occurred when the CCPSA came into force. However, a number of regulations were not revised at the time and some issues have been identified.

In particular, the scope of application of some regulations is inconsistent with that of the CCPSA, some regulations still contain some provisions more relevant to the HPA than the CCPSA, the regulations do not reflect current legislative drafting practices, and some regulations incorporated by reference product safety standards that are out of date and have been reaffirmed. Additionally, the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations (SJCSR) has made recommendations regarding inconsistencies between the English and French versions of three regulations.

Objectives

The objective of the present initiative is to build on the 2011 regulatory revisions and make non-substantive administrative changes to the following 32 regulations under the CCPSA: Asbestos Products Regulations, Candles Regulations, Carbonated Beverage Glass Containers Regulations, Carriages and Strollers Regulations, Children’s Jewellery Regulations, Children’s Sleepwear Regulations, Consumer Chemicals and Containers Regulations, 2001, Consumer Products Containing Lead (Contact with Mouth) Regulations, Corded Window Covering Products Regulations, Face Protectors for Ice Hockey and Box Lacrosse Players Regulations, Glass Doors and Enclosures Regulations, Glazed Ceramics and Glassware Regulations, Hazardous Products (Carpet) Regulations, Hazardous Products (Cellulose Insulation) Regulations, Hazardous Products (Charcoal) Regulations, Hazardous Products (Expansion Gates and Expandable Enclosures) Regulations, Hazardous Products (Infant Feeding Bottle Nipples) Regulations, Hazardous Products (Kettles) Regulations, Hazardous Products (Matches) Regulations, Hazardous Products (Mattresses) Regulations, Hazardous Products (Pacifiers) Regulations, Hazardous Products (Tents) Regulations, Ice Hockey Helmet Regulations, Lighters Regulations, Phthalates Regulations, Playpens Regulations, Residential Detectors Regulations, Restraint Systems and Booster Seats for Motor Vehicles Regulations, Science Education Sets Regulations, Surface Coating Materials Regulations, Textile Flammability Regulations, and Toys Regulations.

No substantive changes to regulatory requirements for consumer products will occur as a result of this initiative.

Description

Scope of application

The scope of application of the regulations is being revised to match that of the CCPSA by including the manufacture of consumer products. The former HPA legislation provided authority to regulate the importation, sale or advertising of consumer products but did not expressly regulate the manufacture of those products in Canada. It is no longer necessary to expressly include importation, sale or advertising in the regulations made under the CCPSA, as section 6 of the Act itself provides that no person shall manufacture, import, advertise or sell a consumer product that does not meet the requirements set out in the regulations.

In some instances, expanding the scope of application to include manufacturing of consumer products is accomplished by deleting “advertised, sold or imported” within a provision. For example, the Kettles Regulations, which stated that “A product may be advertised, sold or imported into Canada if it does not release more than 0.01 ppm w/w lead”, now state that “A kettle must not release more than 0.01 ppm lead”.

In other instances, an entire provision is deleted such as in section 2 of the Toys Regulations where the statement “These Regulations apply to the importation, advertising and sale of toys” is being removed. Section 6 of the Act applies and no person shall manufacture, import, advertise or sell consumer products that do not meet the requirements set out in the regulations.

References to the HPA

Many of the existing CCPSA regulations still contain references to “Hazardous Products” in their titles, which is not consistent with the CCPSA. As well, some consumer products are defined in the regulations by reference to the former HPA Schedule I.

Regulations under the authority of the CCPSA which contain “Hazardous Products” in their titles have been amended to remove the reference to “Hazardous Products”. For example, the Hazardous Products (Charcoal) Regulations are replaced by the Charcoal Regulations.

Regulations that define consumer products by referencing the former HPA are also revised. For example, “charcoal” is defined under the existing Hazardous Products (Charcoal) Regulations as meaning “any charcoal described in item 24 of Part II of the schedule to the Hazardous Products Act”. Item 24 of Part II of the former Schedule I to the HPA further defines “charcoal” as that which is “for use in domestic cooking or heating”. This definition of the product requires stakeholders to refer to the repealed legislation in order to determine the full definition of the product. These changes incorporate the language used in the former Schedule I to the HPA into the CCPSA regulations themselves and thus clarify for industry the scope of products under the regulations. For example, the Charcoal Regulations now define “charcoal” as “charcoal for use in domestic cooking or heating”.

Lastly, some of the regulations define the “Act” as being the Hazardous Products Act. These references are either removed or amended to reference the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, as appropriate.

Housekeeping revisions

Housekeeping revisions have been made to the regulations which are administrative in nature and do not introduce any new requirements. These revisions modernize the regulations and update static references.

The regulations have been further updated to reflect current legislative practices. For example, many of the regulations include a “Short Title” in section 1. In the Hazardous Products (Charcoal) Regulations, the short title states, “These Regulations may be cited as the Hazardous Products (Charcoal) Regulations”. According to current drafting practices, this is no longer necessary and has been deleted in all regulations where it occurs, which has resulted in a renumbering of the sections in the implicated regulations.

Many of the regulations under the authority of the CCPSA contain static incorporation by reference to versions of standards that were in use at the time the regulations came into force. However, standards are regularly reviewed by their respective Standards Development Organizations. When a standard is reviewed and no changes are made to the content, the standard is reaffirmed and is updated with a more recent date of publication. These updates usually occur more rapidly than Health Canada can update the regulations, which leads to regulations that incorporate by reference outdated versions of standards if it is a static reference and which may lead to difficulties for stakeholders in acquiring the out-of-date standard. Therefore, regulations that contain static references to standards which have been reaffirmed, but no other changes made to the requirements, have been updated to align with the most current versions of the standards.

Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations (SJCSR)

Specific sections of the Textile Flammability Regulations, the Glass Doors and Enclosures Regulations and the Corded Window Covering Products Regulations are revised to address concerns raised by the SJCSR regarding inconsistencies between the English and French versions.

The Textile Flammability Regulations set out flammability requirements for textile products and bedding, excluding the products listed in section 2 that must comply with different flammability requirements under the CCPSA. The SJCSR identified wording inconsistencies between the French and English versions. To address the identified inconsistencies, paragraph 2(f) of the Textile Flammability Regulations now excludes “textile floor coverings” in the English version and “revêtements de sol textiles” in the French version from the Regulations, thereby ensuring consistency in wording between the versions. Changes made to the Textile Flammability Regulations are also reflected in the Textile Floor Coverings Regulations made under the CCPSA.

Subsection 3(2) of the Glass Doors and Enclosures Regulations in the English version now specifies that the responsible person must provide “any of the documents”, which means, by using the definite article “the”, that the documents in subsection (1) are those referred to. Similarly, subsection 5(2) of the Corded Window Covering Products Regulations in English now specifies that the responsible person must provide “any of the documents”.

“One-for-One” Rule

The “One-for-One” Rule does not apply since there is no change in administrative costs to business.

Small business lens

The small business lens does not apply since there is no impact on small business.

Consultation

These changes do not involve any change in industry’s product safety obligations, and will have no impact on the health or safety of the Canadian population. Therefore, no consultation was conducted. The purpose of using the exemptions from the prepublication process is to simplify the regulatory process and to minimize regulatory costs.

Rationale

These administrative changes to the regulations have no policy implications; they reflect current legislative drafting practices, correct inconsistencies between the English and French versions and bring certain product safety standards incorporated by reference up to date with the most current versions. The revisions further remove references to the HPA, and ensure that the scope of application of these regulations is consistent with that of the CCPSA.

The revisions have no impact and impose no cost on stakeholders, nor do they modify any requirements in the regulations.

Implementation, enforcement and service standards

These changes will not affect the existing compliance and enforcement mechanisms.

Contact

Sheila Davidson
Project Officer
Consumer Product Safety Directorate
Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch
Department of Health
269 Laurier Avenue, 8th Floor
Address Locator: 4908B
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0K9
Fax: 613-952-2551
Email: sheila.davidson@hc-sc.gc.ca