Canadian Environmental Protection Act: general information

This section includes a variety of general information that is related to the activities which take place under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA). Such information is broad in nature and includes documents such as recent CEPA annual reports and fact sheets.

Fact sheets

• Fact sheets on the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999

CEPA annual reports

• CEPA annual report for the period of April 2021 to March 2022 (PDF 1.84 MB)
• CEPA annual report for the period of April 2020 to March 2021 (PDF 4.03 MB)
• CEPA annual report for the period of April 2019 to March 2020 (PDF 3.85 MB)
• CEPA annual report for the period of April 2018 to March 2019 (PDF 5.9 MB)
• CEPA annual report for the period of April 2017 to March 2018 (PDF 2.4 MB)
• CEPA annual report for the period of April 2016 to March 2017 (PDF 2.1 MB)
• CEPA annual report for the period of April 2015 to March 2016 (PDF 1.3 MB)
• CEPA annual report for the period of April 2014 to March 2015 (PDF 1.29 MB)
• For previous annual reports, consult the list of historical documents

Committees

Interdepartmental cooperation

The Environment Canada/Health Canada CEPA Management Committee

The CEPA Management Committee was established pursuant to the 1990 Memorandum of Understanding between Environment Canada and Health Canada concerning toxic substances and CEPA. It oversees Environment Canada and Health Canada programs dealing with priority substances, new chemicals and biotechnology products, the development of regulatory and non-regulatory control options for toxic substances, amendments to CEPA and its regulations and other related issues. Joint subcommittees have been set up to address new chemicals and toxic substances.

The National Advisory Committee (NAC) under CEPA

Under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, Section 6 provides for the CEPA NAC to be the main intergovernmental forum for the purpose of enabling national action and avoiding duplication in regulatory activity among governments.

List of members of the National Advisory Committee.

The Canadian Environmental Protection Act registry

The CEPA registry was launched with the proclamation of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA) on March 31, 2000 as required under Section 12 of CEPA.

The goal of the registry is to make it easier to access current information related to the act such as:

• regulations
• Canada Gazette notices and orders
• permits
• guidelines
• codes of practice
• agreements
• plans
• policies
• substances
• enforcement and compliance actions

Most importantly, the CEPA registry is available for Canadians to understand how the federal government administers CEPA and to participate in the consultation and decision making processes under the act. Industry, environmental, labor, health and aboriginal groups and individuals are examples of those who are continually invited to participate in a wide variety of public consultations.

Since the launch of the CEPA registry, ongoing efforts have been made to increase the registry's reliability and user friendliness. The registry continues to expand in order to serve Canadians better and now encompasses thousands of documents related to the act. The content and structure of the registry is always evolving as new documents are added and as improvements are recommended by users. It also contains a glossary of terms used in the registry.

If you have suggested improvements to the CEPA registry, please write to: ec.registrelcpe-ceparegistry.ec@canada.ca