Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 Annual Report for April 2011 to March 2012

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This Annual Report provides an overview of the results achieved under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA 1999) from April 1, 2011, to March 31, 2012. The publication of this report responds to the statutory requirement to provide annual reports to Parliament on the administration and enforcement of the Act.

The chapters in this report are organized based on the major parts of CEPA 1999, to enable readers to easily find results achieved under the Act and to compare those results from year to year. Each chapter contains introductory remarks that describe the applicable provisions of the Act, followed by a description of the key results achieved under that part during the reporting period.

This report includes the following mandatory information:

• Section 1.1 describes the activities of the National Advisory Committee. There were no other committees established under paragraph 7(1)(a) of CEPA 1999 during the reporting period.
• Section 1.2 describes the activities under the Canada–Ontario Agreement Respecting the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem.
• Section 1.3 describes the activities under the Canada–Quebec Administrative Agreement.
• Section 1.4 describes the activities under the Canada–Saskatchewan Administrative Agreement.
• Section 1.5 describes the activities under the Canada–Alberta Equivalency Agreement.
• Section 3.2 provides examples of the types of research initiatives under way and their key contributions in the reporting period. Environment Canada and Health Canada scientists published numerous reports, papers, book chapters, articles and manuscripts on subjects related to CEPA 1999. This body of work appeared in books and scientific journals that are available in libraries and from the publishers.
• There were no activities under the international air pollution provisions (Division 6 of Part 7) of CEPA 1999 during the reporting period.
• There were no activities under the international water pollution provisions (Division 7 of Part 7) of CEPA 1999 during the reporting period.

The Chemicals Management Plan (CMP) is a program to protect Canadians and their environment from exposure to harmful chemicals. It includes a number of activities for which the obligations or authorities are spread throughout CEPA 1999. As such, the specific results achieved by the CMP under each part of the Act for the 2011–2012 reporting period can be found in the appropriate chapter of this report.

The Chemical Substances website provides more information on activities related to the CMP.