Consultation document on risk management measure for BNST: chapter 5

5. The Existing Prohibition of Certain Toxic Substances Regulations, 2005 and the Proposed Amendment

5.1 Prohibition Regulations

The Prohibition Regulations pursuant to subsection 93(1) of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999³ were registered on February 15, 2005 and came into force 3 months after the day on which they were registered. The Prohibition Regulations were published in the Canada Gazette, Part II on March 9, 2005.

The Prohibition Regulations prohibit the manufacture, use, sale, offer for sale or import of the toxic substances listed in Schedule 1 to the regulations. Sections of the Prohibition Regulations are briefly outlined below. The full text of the Prohibition Regulations is available on the CEPA Registry web site.

Application

Section 1 sets out that the Prohibition Regulations apply to the toxic substance listed in Schedule 1 and 2 to these Regulations.

Exceptions

Sections 2 and 3 describe the exceptions to the prohibitions that are permitted. For example, the Prohibition Regulations do not apply to any toxic substance listed in the Schedules to the Regulations that is for use in a laboratory.

Prohibitions

Sections 4 and 5 set out the prohibitions regarding manufacture, use, sale, offer for sale or import a toxic substance (listed in Schedule 1 and 2) or a mixture or product containing that substance.

Permits and other administration

Section 6 sets out the permit system established to allow the manufacture, use, sale, offer for sale or import of a toxic substance or a mixture or product containing such a substance referred to in either sections 4 or 5. Section 6 describes the conditions for the issuance of a permit, or the revocation of a permit.

Sections 7-10 set out the reporting requirements, testing requirements for laboratories, certification requirements, record keeping requirements and record keeping.

Sections 11 and 12 are administrative in nature.

5.2 Proposed Amendment to the Prohibition Regulations

Application

As per the final Screening Assessment Report conclusion, BNST is persistent, bioaccumulative and may have harmful effects on aquatic organisms. It is therefore proposed to amend the Prohibition Regulations to add BNST.

The addition of BNST would prohibit the manufacture, use, sale and offer for sale of BNST or mixtures or products containing BNST for all uses unless otherwise specified.

As part of the regulatory action development process, allowing the manufacture, use, sale and offer for sale of BNST, or mixtures or products containing BNST, for a specific and limited time period will be considered. At the end of that time period, no uses would be permitted and the manufacture, use, sale and offer for sale or import of BNST or mixtures or products containing BNST would then be totally prohibited.

5.3 Coming into Force

It is anticipated that the proposed amendment to the Prohibition Regulations will be published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, no later than August 2011. The publication will be followed by a comment period.

It is anticipated that the final regulations will be published in the Canada Gazette, Part II, no later than February 2013.²