Cyclical Enforcement Project 2019-2020: Mandatory Reporting

Fiscal Year 2019-2020

Summary

The Consumer Product Safety Program (CPSP) of Health Canada administers and enforces the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (CCPSA) and its regulations by conducting investigations, inspections, seizures and prosecutions. The CPSP also responds to reports of consumer product-related health or safety concerns from industry and consumers.

Under section 14 of the CCPSA, industry must report to Health Canada after becoming aware of a health or safety incident involving a consumer product that they manufacture, import, distribute or sell. If applicable, they must also inform the person from whom they received the product. Subsections 14(2) and 14(3) of the CCPSA outline the timelines for reporting an incident.

These incident reports allow Health Canada to quickly identify and act on health or safety issues in the Canadian marketplace. Failure to report incidents to Health Canada within the required timeframe is an offence under the CCPSA. In the event of an incident, establishments that have a well-established process for reviewing the safety of products, controlling products under review and reporting to Health Canada within the required timelines could reduce consumer's exposure to hazards.

During the 2019-2020 fiscal year, Health Canada conducted a Cyclical Enforcement (CE) project on Mandatory Reporting. The purpose of this project was to verify compliance of industry with the section 14 requirements specific to incident reporting under the CCPSA.

The compliance of the selected establishments with section 14 requirements under the CCPSA was determined through a process by which Health Canada inspectors visited establishments, reviewed their company's incident management process, and assessed complaints and events related to their products. Inspectors determined if any complaints or events received by the company met the definition of an incident under section 14 of the CCPSA, and therefore, should have been reported to Health Canada.

Results

The CPSP used internal data to select nine establishments across Canada for this project. Five establishments were inspected between January and March of 2020. The remaining four inspections could not be completed within the project timelines due to COVID-19 business closures and will be completed in a future Mandatory Reporting CE project. The five establishments included in this project were Best Buy Canada, Les Magasins Hart, Overwaite Food Group, Samsung and S.C. Johnson and Son Limited. The establishments were asked to report any un-reported incidents that were identified during the inspection to Health Canada within the given timelines. If applicable, they were also requested to provide an action plan of how they will ensure reportable incidents are received, assessed and reported to Health Canada in a timely manner in the future.

Out of the five establishments inspected for this project, one establishment, Les Magasins Hart, was identified as having unreported incidents during the inspection. Therefore, the rate of non-compliance to section 14 for this project was 20%. Upon request by Health Canada, Les Magasins Hart reported the incidents identified during the inspection within the legislative timelines.

The inspected establishments committed to fulfilling their responsibility to report consumer product incidents to Health Canada within the required timelines. In addition, Health Canada suggested areas of improvement after reviewing establishment's incident management processes. Where required, inspected establishments committed to improving their processes as part of their action plans submitted during the project. Health Canada will monitor the establishments to ensure they meet their commitments.

Next Steps

Health Canada will continue to work with industry and promote the Industry Guide on Mandatory Reporting in order for companies to accurately assess and report in a timely manner incidents relating to consumer products sold in Canada.

Disclaimer: A systematic bias was applied during inspection targeting. Establishments were not randomly selected but were chosen because they were deemed by the inspector to meet the parameters of the project. The findings of this project may not reflect the overall compliance of establishments in Canada.

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