Canada Regulatory News

As per Canada’s New Substances Fees Regulations, fees must be provided with each New Substance Notification (NSN) package submitted under the New Substance Notification Regulations (Che...

As per Canada’s New Substances Fees Regulations, fees must be provided with each New Substance Notification (NSN) package submitted under the New Substance Notification Regulations (Chemicals and Polymers).  The amount of fee will be dependent on the annual sales in Canada for the notifier, the specific Schedule being submitted, and other services being requested (e.g., confidential search on the Domestic Substances List or Non-Domestic Substances List or masked name application).   

Environment and Climate Change Canada has implemented this fee adjustment for the New Substances Program to be in compliance with Canada's Service Fees Act which requires annual fee adjustments based on the country’s Consumer Price Index (CPI). Based on the decrease in CPI over the past twelve months, fees for NSN submissions will decrease by 0.2% starting from April 1, 2021 and it will be valid till March 31, 2022. 

The New Substances program consists of officials from Environment and Climate Change Canada and Health Canada. It is responsible for administering the New Substances Notification Regulations (Chemicals and Polymers) and the New Substances Notification Regulations (Organisms) [NSNR] made under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA). These regulations ensure that no new substances (chemicals, polymers or living organisms) are introduced into the Canadian marketplace before undergoing ecological and human health assessments, and that appropriate control measures have been taken, wherever required. 

To pay for services stated above, a complete New Substances Fees Payment Form, including a credit card authorization form, must be sent either by mail or by courier or one can use the Fee Payment phone line at 1-833-225-2883 (in Canada) or 819-994-8167 (outside Canada). 

All federal departments and agencies that collect fees for regulatory and non-regulatory services are required to develop and implement a Departmental Remissions Policy by April 1, 2021. Each program that charges fees is also required to establish a remissions approach that aligns with the Departmental Remissions Policy. 

The Remissions Approach by New Substances Program (NSP) sets out the scope and application for remission payments, regulatory timeline or non-regulatory performance standard be missed by the NSP.  

Last update: 2021-04-21

Canada is one of the countries that take action on plastic waste and pollution. On October 10th 2020 the Canadian government plans to propose an order to add "plastic manufactured items" to Schedule O...

Canada is one of the countries that take action on plastic waste and pollution. On October 10th 2020 the Canadian government plans to propose an order to add "plastic manufactured items" to Schedule One of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (Cepa). Schedule One is the country’s list of toxic substances.

Through listing substance in Schedule One it will give the government a tool to address plastic pollution at different stages of the lifecycle of plastic manufactured items, such as manufacture, import, sale, use and disposal of articles.

The aim is to set up regulatory actions to address plastic pollution and is part of the government’s broader plan to manage plastic products, recover and recycle plastics and reach zero plastic waste by 2030.

The government also laid out plans to ban six specific types of single use plastics:

1. checkout bags;
2. straws;
3. stir sticks;
4. six-pack rings;
5. cutlery; and
6. foodware made from hard-to-recycle plastics.

The government also released its final scientific assessment of plastic pollution, which concluded "action is needed to reduce macro-plastics and microplastics that end up in the environment". The assessment focused on plastic waste entering the environment and did not review the efficacy of waste management processes like mechanical or chemical recycling.

Environment and Climate Change Canada said it will accept comments until 9 December on its plan to ban the six categories of single-use products. Regulations would then be finalised by the end of 2021.