Product safety is in everyone's best interest.
The new Canada Consumer Product Safety Act outlines
how industry and government will continue to partner together
to help protect Canadians from unsafe consumer products.
Effective June 20, 2011,
the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act
introduced new requirements for industry to follow.
These requirements will help prevent the manufacturing,
importation, advertising and selling of consumer products
that pose an unreasonable danger to human health or safety.
A wide variety of consumer products
are covered under the Act,
including children's toys and equipment,
children's jewellery, textiles, household products,
and sporting goods.
Items not covered under the Act
include natural health products,
food and drink, cosmetics, prescription
or over-the-counter drugs and medical devices.
All levels of industry including manufacturers,
importers, distributors, and retailers of products
covered under the Act need to be aware
of their new obligations, including Mandatory Reporting.
If you have become aware of a reportable incident,
you are required to report it within a certain time period
to Health Canada and to the person from whom
you obtained the product.
This will provide Health Canada
with timely information about product safety issues.
Industry also has new obligations
with regards to record keeping.
Retailers must retain documents
showing the name and address of their suppliers
and where and when the products were sold.
Anyone who manufactures, imports, advertises,
sells or tests a consumer product for commercial purposes
must prepare and maintain documents
that indicate the name and address
of the person from whom they obtained the product
or the person to whom they sold it, or both.
These records must be kept by businesses
as part of any regular bookkeeping practice
and will help to trace products
throughout the supply chain, should the need arise.
Health Canada has hosted
a series of information sessions across Canada
to further assist you in better understanding
your new responsibilities.
Webcasts of these sessions will be available on line.
Guidance documents have been produced
on various elements of the Act
and are also available to you on-line.
Health Canada's website is industry's primary source
for clear and specific information on the new Act.
Visit the website to sign up for CCPSA updates
or for more information,
including webcasts and guidance documents.
A message from the Government of Canada