Issues and possible approaches, Canadian Environmental Protection Act: discussion paper, chapter 3

3. Preventing water pollution from nutrients

• 3.1 Provide authority to regulate labelling of products containing nutrients

Division 1 of Part 7 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) provides the authority to regulate nutrients that degrade or have a negative impact on aquatic ecosystems, such as those contained in cleaning products and water conditioners. CEPA prohibits the manufacture or import of a cleaning product or water conditioner that contains a regulated nutrient in a concentration or quantity that exceeds the regulated limit.

3.1 Provide authority to regulate labelling of products containing nutrients

Issue

Regulation-making authorities in Division 1 of Part 7 of CEPA do not expressly provide the authority to specify packaging requirements, such as how a product should be labelled, or the type of information, including conditions of use and instructions for use, that the label needs to contain. The express ability to specify labelling requirements would facilitate the use of concentrated products, resulting in reduced shipping costs, emissions and packaging, but ensure that users of the products have the information needed to correctly dilute them to a safe level.

Possible Approach to Address the Issue

CEPA could be amended to explicitly provide the authority in Division 1 of Part 7 to specify labelling and packaging requirements.