Canada's Chemicals Management Plan - Invitation for Input

Environment and Climate Change Canada and Health Canada are inviting stakeholders to provide information that will inform the path forward for the next phase (2016–2020) of the Chemicals Management Plan (CMP).

 

The CMP is a Government of Canada initiative aimed at reducing the risks posed by chemicals to Canadians and their environment. Information obtained will help tailor assessment and management approaches and inform the implementation plan for the next phase of the CMP, which will be made available in the spring of 2016.

 

In 2006, Environment and Climate Change Canada and Health Canada completed the prioritization of the approximately 23,000 substances on the Domestic Substances List (DSL) of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA). The prioritization process identified 4,300 substances requiring human health and ecological assessments, and Environment and Climate Change Canada and Health Canada have committed to addressing these substances by 2020. Of the 4,300 substances identified, approximately 1,550 substances (including propane) remain to be addressed and these are the focus of this notice.

 

Basic information for most of these substances was collected through the DSL Inventory Update in 2012, which helped Environment and Climate Change Canada and Health Canada identify key stakeholders and commercial activity involving these substances. The information collected as part of the DSL Inventory Update will continue to be considered moving forward. Engaging stakeholders early by requesting information through this notice will inform assessment work and shape future data-gathering strategies to address these substances. Such strategies could include voluntary approaches with key sectors and information-sharing agreements for confidential information.

 

The types of information being sought by Environment and Climate Change Canada and Health Canada for the remaining 1,550 substances may include:

• information that could influence the timing and complexity of an assessment;
• composition data for unknown or variable composition, complex reaction products, or biological materials (UVCBs); 
• information on releases of a substance to the environment;
• information on the fate of the substance in the environment;
• information on industrial facility processes, operating conditions and practices, and handling of the substance;
• information on controls (e.g. on-site wastewater treatment) relevant to limiting the release of a substance to the environment;
• information on products (industrial, commercial or consumer) that contain the substance, as well as the concentration of a substance in a given product; information regarding the function of a substance in a product that could influence potential exposures or releases;
• data on hazard potential (human health, ecotoxicity);
• data on the function of the substance (e.g. whether it is consumed in reactions during industrial use; if it is designed to be released to the environment due to its use);
• data on migration or release of the substance from products;
• data that could help refine substance-specific assumptions (such as dermal absorption data);
• access to existing information, such as data shared within a Substance Information Exchange Forum (SIEF) under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation of the European Union;
• national and international research activities related to a substance, including monitoring.

Assessment activity on the remaining 1,550 substances is planned to begin in spring 2016. More detailed notifications will be published periodically as the work plan is updated to specify the substances for which additional information is needed, the associated timelines as well as details on how to provide this information.

 

Stakeholders who provide information in response to this notice may submit a request that it be treated as confidential. To obtain more information or to discuss how Environment and Climate Change Canada and Health Canada can play a role in facilitating information sharing throughout the supply chain, stakeholders are advised to contact the Substance Management Information Line.

 

Stakeholders who did not provide information under the DSL Inventory Update and who do not have information to provide at this time but would like to remain engaged in the decision-making process for these substances should identify substances of interest by submitting this information using the online reporting system that will be available shortly on Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Single Window Web site.

 

Substances Management Information Line

Chemicals Management Plan

Gatineau, Quebec  K1A 0H3

Telephone: 1-800-567-1999 (in Canada) or 819-938-3232

Fax: 819-938-5212

Email: ec.substances.ec@canada.ca

 

Additional information on this notice, including the list of 1,550 substances, can be viewed on the Canada Gazette Website.