7. Evidence of Conformity

Sections 16 to 18 of the Regulations identify the records respecting the evidence of conformity that must be provided to the Minister upon request.

For an engine that is covered by an EPA certificate of conformity and that is sold concurrently in Canada and in the U.S., the evidence of conformity is

  1. a copy of the EPA certificate of conformity;
  2. a document demonstrating that the engine is sold concurrently in Canada and in the U.S.;
  3. a copy of the records submitted to the EPA when applying to obtain a certificate of conformity; and
  4. the U.S. EPA engine information label affixed to the engine.

For an engine that is not covered by an EPA certificate of conformity or that is not sold concurrently in Canada and the U.S., the evidence of conformity shall be obtained and produced in a form and manner that is satisfactory to the Minister. Please refer to section 7.3 of this guidance document.

Paragraph 16(b) of the Regulations requires a document demonstrating that an engine covered by an EPA certificate is sold concurrently in Canada and the U.S. Examples of the required evidence include:

  1. a copy of an invoice for the sale of an engine to a person in the U.S.;
  2. a copy of an invoice for the sale of a machine containing the engine to a person in the U.S. accompanied by documentation showing that the engine was installed in the machine; or
  3. other evidence sufficient to demonstrate concurrent sales of engines in the U.S. and Canada.

Section 18 of the Regulations requires a company to provide evidence of conformity in respect of any engine of the 2006 and later model years that are manufactured on or after January 1, 2006 upon written request by the Minister. This request can apply to engines manufactured in the eight years preceding the request and evidence of conformity must be provided in either official language within 40 days after the request is delivered. If the evidence of conformity must be translated from a language other than French or English, the company has 60 days to provide the evidence.

For an engine that is not covered by a current EPA certificate of conformity or that is not sold concurrently in Canada and the U.S., section 17 of the Regulations requires that the evidence of conformity be "obtained and produced by a company in a form and manner that is satisfactory to the Minister". Evidence of conformity for an engine that is not covered by an EPA certificate or that is not sold concurrently in Canada and the U.S. must be submitted to Environment Canada prior to importation or prior to affixing the national emissions mark in order to determine that the company has obtained and produced the evidence of conformity in a form and manner that is satisfactory to the Minister.

While the Regulations do not oblige a company to directly maintain the evidence of conformity, there is an obligation to make it available upon request. Accordingly, companies should ensure that the necessary arrangements are in place to fulfill this obligation.

For an engine that is not covered by an EPA certificate of conformity or that is not sold concurrently in Canada and the U.S., section 17 of the Regulations states that evidence of conformity must be obtained and produced in a form and manner satisfactory to the Minister.

Figure 3 illustrates the procedure to provide evidence of conformity "in a form and manner satisfactory to the Minister" for the engines referred to in section 17 of the Regulations.


Figure 3: Sample Procedure for Engines that are not Covered by a Current EPA Certificate of Conformity or that are not Sold Concurrently in Canada and the U.S.

Sample procedure for engines that are not covered by a current EPA certificate of conformity (see long description below).
Description of Figure 3


The evidence of conformity in this situation must be submitted prior to importation of the subject engine(s) or prior to affixing the national emissions mark to the engine(s). The evidence of conformity submission must contain an original letter signed by an authorized officer of the company that will be importing the subject engines into Canada and contain an unconditional statement of compliance with the Off-Road Compression-Ignition Engine Emission Regulations.

Companies should obtain and produce evidence of conformity that is comparable to that specified in paragraphs 16(c) and 16(d) for EPA certified engines (i.e., evidence of conformity comparable to information specified in section 89.115 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)). A companyshould therefore obtain and produce the following evidence:

  1. results of the emissions testing of the Canada-only engine obtained using the applicable procedures set out in the CFR;
  2. data required to repeat this testing (i.e., information specified in section 89.115 of the CFR);
  3. credentials of the laboratory where the testing was performed, especially experience in obtaining test results used in support of certification by the EPA;
  4. sample of an engine information label.

Test results and data required to repeat the testing may be presented in the same format used when applying to the EPA for a certificate of conformity.

Under the Regulations, an engine information label must be affixed in the location specified in paragraph 16(d) of the Regulations. This engine information label shall include:

  1. a statement of compliance, such as "this engine conforms to all applicable standards under the Canadian Off-Road Compression-Ignition Engine Emission Regulations for [XXXX] model year" or the national emissions mark if the company has been authorized to affix it; and
  2. the name of company, the model year, date of manufacture, rated engine power and sufficient information to demonstrate satisfactory evidence of conformity.

On the label, a company may use the code system shown in Table 4 instead of providing in full the information listed under item (2). This code is based on the engine family identification developed by the EPA.

Table 4: Identification Code for Canada-Only Engines
Number of characters Columns Description
2 1-2 A letter code identifying Environment Canada - EC
1 3 Model year identified until 2009 by the last number of the model year, i.e. 5 for model year 2005.
3 4-6

Codes identifying the company. A company may use

  1. the identification number assigned by the Minister if authorized to affix the national emissions mark;
  2. the character sequence used by the EPA to identify the company, if applicable; or
  3. if the company cannot use a) or b), a sequence of three characters subject to approval by Environment Canada.
1 7 A letter code identifying the Regulations
V on-road
S small spark-ignition
R recreational
C compression-ignition
L large spark-ignition
4 8-11 Engine displacement in liters (e.g. 05.7 where the decimal point counts as a digit and the leading zero is a space) or cubic inches (e.g. 0350, 0097). For large displacement engines, the displacement may be entered as XX.X (e.g. 12.1). Small engines may be entered as a .XXX (e.g., .072, 0.07, 00.7). In all cases the displacement will be read in liters if a decimal point is entered and in cubic inches if there is no decimal point.
3 or more 12-? Sequence characters. Use any combination of characters to provide a unique identification for the engine model or family.

Section 17 of the Regulations requires that evidence of conformity for any engine that is not covered by an EPA certificate be "obtained and produced by a company in a form and manner that is satisfactory to the Minister". In the case of transition enginesFootnote 3 installed in machines that are sold concurrently in Canada and the U.S., the following evidence of conformity is deemed to be satisfactory to the Minister:

  1. a statement from the company that the engine is a transition engine; the engine has been affixed with the label required under subsection 13 (4); and the engine conforms to the Off-Road Compression-Ignition Engine Emission Regulations;
  2. as required under subsection 13 (4) of the Regulations, the label that is affixed to the engine which states that the engine is a transition engine that conforms to the Canadian Off-Road Compression-Ignition Engine Emission Regulations or the EPAnon-road compression-ignition emission regulations under the provisions of 40 CFR 89.102;
  3. the machine manufacturer's name, address, and contact person's name and phone number;
  4. a copy of the machine manufacturer's calculation described in subparagraph 89.102(e)(1) of the CFR that has been submitted to the EPA after the transition period;
  5. a copy of the machine manufacturer's records referred to in subparagraph 89.102(e)(2) of the CFR;
  6. the engine manufacturer's name, address, and contact person's name and phone number;
  7. in the case of an engine rated at or above 37 kW, a copy of the engine manufacturer's most recent EPA certificate covering the engine and a copy of the engine manufacturer's records submitted to the U.S. EPA in support of the application for the issuance of the U.S. EPA certificate in respect of the engine; and
  8. documentation demonstrating that the model of machine installed with a particular transition engine was sold concurrently in Canada and the U.S.

In the case of transition engines installed in machines that are sold only in Canada, please refer to the “Advisory Notice for Transition Engines Installed in Machines Sold Only in Canada under the Off-Road Compression-Ignition Engine Emission Regulations”.Footnote 4

Typically, evidence of conformity for an engine that is not covered by an EPA certificate must be submitted to Environment Canada prior to importation in order to determine that the company has obtained and produced the evidence of conformity in a form and manner that is satisfactory to the Minister. In the specific case of a transition engine, however, it is not necessary to submit the evidence of conformity prior to importation given that this guidance specifies the form and manner that is satisfactory to the Minister.

Notwithstanding the above, the company is obligated under sections 17 and 18 of the Regulations to provide evidence of conformity upon written request by the Minister. In the case of transition engines, the "company" is typically the importer of the engine or machine and the information listed above is usually generated by the engine manufacturer and the machine manufacturer. It is recommended that the Canadian importer of machines or engines ensure that the necessary arrangements are in place to fulfill the obligation that the evidence of conformity is provided upon request. The Canadian importer may arrange that copies of the machine manufacturer's calculation and records and the engine manufacturer's EPA certificate and records be submitted directly by the manufacturers to Environment Canada when requested.

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