Reporting under the Products Containing Mercury Regulations
Under the Products Containing Mercury Regulations (the Regulations) in force since 2015, manufacturers and importers of exempted products containing mercury are required to report on their activities to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) every 3 years. Reports were due by March 31st following the calendar years 2016, 2019, 2022, and will continue in 2025, 2027, 2030 and every third year thereafter.
As of June 19, 2025, amendments to the Regulations are in effect. The amendments include:
- additional prohibitions
- changes in exempted product categories
- lowered maximum mercury concentrations for some exempted products
- reporting cycles adjusted in 2027 to match the US EPA
- mandatory reporting on export activities for importers and manufacturers of products containing mercury
Electronics reports are only accepted through ECCC’s Single Window Information System (SWIM) reporting system. Regulatees who are unable to report through the online system are asked to contact produits-products@ec.gc.ca.
On this page
- 5 steps for easy reporting
- Changes to reporting requirements
- How do I access the Regulations in SWIM?
- What can I do in the Regulations online reporting system?
- Contact us
- Disclaimer
5 steps for easy reporting
Step One: Read the Compliance Guide
- As a manufacturer and/or importer of products containing mercury, you are strongly encouraged to familiarize yourself with the Regulations before starting your report. The Compliance Guide provides detailed information on the Regulations including key terms used in administering the Regulations, the prohibitions and exemptions, and details on the new amendments. After reading the guide, you will have a better understanding of what types of products to report on, and by when.
Step Two: Gather all relevant information
- To assist you, an optional spreadsheet is available to keep track of your import, manufacture and export of products containing mercury. When it is time to report, this spreadsheet can be used to copy and paste the information into the Regulations’ online reporting tables.
- You should be ready to provide information on your organization, including the postal and civic addresses for their principal place of business in Canada, and on the report’s submitter.
Step Three: Register with or access the SWIM online reporting system
- You must register for a secure account on ECCC’s Single Window Information Manager (SWIM) before you can start a report.
- Refer to the SWIM Guidance webpage for instructions on creating a secure account in SWIM.
- Once you are ready, please follow this link to access the SWIM: https://ec.ss.ec.gc.ca/
- If you require further assistance or have any questions about SWIM, please contact the SWIM team at gigu-swim@ec.gc.ca
Step Four: Fill out and submit your report under the Regulations
- Once you have created a SWIM secure account, you will be able to access the Regulations dashboard to fill out your report. The dashboard allows you to create, save, edit and submit a report. It also shows a list of your previous reports.
- Refer to the Reporting Guide for instructions on reporting under the Products Containing Mercury Regulations.
- If you require further assistance with your report or have any questions, please contact the Chemical Production Division at produits-products@ec.gc.ca
Step Five: Keep track of your records
- After you submit your report, ECCC will review it and may reach out to you to obtain additional information. You may be asked to provide additional information on the products you imported, manufactured or exported, or to review potential errors.
- Under the Regulations you are required to keep an electronic copy of your records for 5 years to show compliance with the Regulations upon request. This includes records for non-reporting years.
Changes to reporting requirements
In June 2025, amendments to the Regulations came into force and included some changes in the reporting.
The main changes to the reporting requirements are:
- A new list of exemption. This new list reflects the additional prohibitions, the changes in product categories and the lowered maximum mercury concentrations allowed for some exempted products found in the new schedules.
- A new requirement to provide a Canadian address for the principal place of business in Canada.
- A new requirement to report on export activities (if any) for importers and manufacturers of products containing mercury.
- Starting in 2027, an alignment of the reporting cycles to coincide with those of the US EPA. The next reports are therefore due by March 31, 2026 (on 2025 data), by March 31, 2028 (on 2027 data), and every third year thereafter.
For more information on the 2024 amendments, you can consult the following documents:
- Regulations Amending the Products Containing Mercury Regulations
- Compliance Guide for the Products Containing Mercury Regulations: Amendments published on June 19, 2024
How to access PCMR reporting in SWIM?
Answer the following questions to help you access to the online reporting system for the Products Containing Mercury Regulations (PCMR) in the Single Window Information Manager (SWIM).
Question 1. Do you have a Single Window Information Manager (SWIM) account?
A one-time registration is required to obtain an account for Environment and Climate Change Canada’s (ECCC) SWIM. An account is mandatory to access the PCMR. Any employee responsible for reporting should have their own GCkey registration.
Yes
Open SWIM in a new tab and continue to question 2.
Yes, but I forgot my username or password
To recover your personal account:
- follow instructions to recover your username or password (video tutorial: Recovering your account |text guide: Recovering your account)
- continue to question 2
No
To create a personal account:
- follow instructions to create an account (video tutorial: New account | text guide: First-time users)
- continue to question 2
Question 2. Has your organization been created in SWIM?
Yes
To find it in SWIM:
- click Organization on left hand menu, you should see it listed in the table, if not:
- you can filter items in the table or click Search for an organization
- if you cannot find the organization; broaden your search criteria by shortening the name to try to find different spellings of the name
- once you find it, click on the name of the organization and follow instructions for requesting access to it by selecting the program required (video tutorial: Connecting to an organization| text guide: Managing access to your organization)
- continue to question 3
No / I do not know
To find out if your organization has been created in SWIM:
- click Organization on left hand menu, you should see it in the list, if not:
- click Search for an organization on the bottom of the page
- if you cannot find the organization; broaden your search criteria by shortening the name to try to find different spellings of the name
- if you still can’t find your organization, select Add a New Organization to create it
- complete the organization profile page as completely as possible and click Save
- continue to question 3
Note: By creating a new organization on SWIM, you will become the SWIM Organization lead of this newly created organization.
Question 3. Do you have Authorized submitter access? You will know you do if you see the PCMR application on your SWIM home screen.
Note: In SWIM, the SWIM Organization lead can grant access to themselves or to others to any of the programs hosted under SWIM. In the PCMR online reporting system, a person with Data entry access can enter data but cannot submit reports. Only Authorized submitter access can submit a report.
Yes
Continue to question 4.
No
If you do not have Authorized submitter access:
- contact your SWIM Organization lead to get access
- your SWIM Organization lead will send you an ECCCKey (directions for SWIM Organization lead below)
- click Redeem ECCCKey on left-hand menu of SWIM, copy and paste the ECCCKey to the page and select Redeem (text guide: Redeem ECCCKey)
- continue to question 4
I am a new SWIM Organization lead and need to grant myself access.
You need to create your own authorized submitter access to the PCMR. On the left hand menu of SWIM:
- click Organization and select your organization
- click Manage access (video tutorial: Managing access to your organization |text guide: Grant access)
- click Grant access and choose the role you need (Data entry or Authorized submitter)
- type the number of keys you want and click Generate ECCCKey
- copy the key
- click Redeem ECCCKey on the left-hand menu of SWIM, copy and paste that ECCCKey to the page and select Activate key
- continue to question 4
I am an existing SWIM Organization lead that needs to grant access to a new user.
On the left hand menu of SWIM:
- click Organization and select your organization
- click Manage access (video tutorial: Managing access to your organization |text guide: Grant access)
- click Grant access and choose Authorized submitter or Data entry access
- select the facility in applies for and click Continue
- enter the number of keys needed and click Generate ECCCKey
- copy that ECCCKey and send it by email to your new user
- new user will have to redeem the ECCCKey and continue to question 4
I need to be the new SWIM Organization lead or I do not know who is the SWIM Organization lead.
If you do not know who is the current SWIM Organization lead:
- ask your management who is or was the SWIM Oorganization lead for your organization
- contact the SWIM Organization lead and have them follow the instructions under 'question 3 - I am an existing SWIM organization lead that needs to grant access to a new user' to grant yourself authorized submitter access for the PCMR program
If you need to become the new SWIM Organization lead because the current SWIM Organization lead is not available or is no longer with the organization:
- ask your management for confirmation that you are to be the new SWIM Organization lead (and keep this confirmation readily available to send to ECCC upon request)
- click Request access on the left-hand menu of SWIM to contact ECCC (video tutorial: Managing access to your organization |text guide: Request access)
- scroll down and select 'Single Window Information Manager'
- select the role 'SWIM Organization lead'
- a request will be sent to ECCC
- ECCC will contact you and provide assistance (can take up to 3 business days)
- once it is verified that you should be the new SWIM Organization lead, ECCC will send you an access code that can be copied and pasted into the Redeem key section on the SWIM web page on left side menu
- you will then become a SWIM organization lead
- follow the instructions under 'question 3 - I am a new SWIM Organization lead and need to grant myself access' to grant yourself access as an Authorized submitter for the PCMR program
Note: ECCC will contact you and provide assistance (can take up to 3 business days).
Question 4. Did you access the Products Containing Mercury Regulations (PCMR) section with authorized submitter rights?
Yes
You are now ready to create and fill your report. Continue to follow the User guide for Products Containing Mercury Regulations online reporting system, version 2 - Canada.ca
No
Once at the home page of your SWIM account, select the Products Containing Mercury Regulations from the list of ECCC reporting systems (tutorial: How to access PCMR).
What can I do in the online reporting system?
Create a new report
- See section 4.1 of the PCMR guide
- Information can be entered directly into the online reporting system
- If needed, a downloadable spreadsheet is available to help regulated parties prepare their online report in advance (the information from the spreadsheet can be copied and pasted into the table(s) available on the online reporting system)
- The information from previous reports can also be copied and pasted into the table(s) available on the online reporting system
Edit a report that has not been submitted
- See section 4.3 of the PCMR guide
Modify a submitted report
- To modify a submitted report, an official request to unlock the report must be sent to Produits-Products@ec.gc.ca
- In your email request to unlock your report, please ensure to include the following:
- name of the organization as it appears in the online reporting system
- reporting year of the report to unlock
- reason why you need to regain access to the submitted report
Delete a report
- Only reports that have not been submitted can be deleted
- To delete a report that has not been submitted, see section 4.4 of the PCMR guide
Submit a report
- See section 4.5 of the PCMR guide
- Warning: the report is not submitted until the authorized submitter clicks Submit and certify
Contact us
For any question that cannot be answered by reading the Compliance Guide or the Reporting Guide, please contact your regional ECCC office by email:
- Atlantic: promo-atl-compro@ec.gc.ca
- Quebec: mercure-qc-mercury@ec.gc.ca
- Ontario: promcon-on-compro@ec.gc.ca
- Prairie and Northern: promconrpn-compropnr@ec.gc.ca
- Pacific and Yukon: mercure-py-mercury@ec.gc.ca
Disclaimer
In the event of an inconsistency between this information and the regulations under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, the regulations and the statute prevail.