Canadian Environmental Protection Act
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The ''Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999'' (''CEPA, 1999''; french: Loi canadienne sur la protection de l'environnement (1999)) is an act of the 36th Parliament of Canada, whose goal is to contribute to sustainable development through pollution prevention and to protect the environment, human life and health from the risks associated with toxic substances. It covers a diversity of activities that can affect human health and the environment, and acts to address any pollution issues not covered by other federal laws. As such, the act is a "catch all" piece of legislation that ensures potentially toxic substances are not inadvertently exempt from federal oversight as a result of unforeseen legislative loopholes. The act also recognizes the contribution of pollution prevention and the management and control of toxic substances and hazardous waste to reducing threats to Canada's ecosystems and biological diversity. It acknowledges, for the first time, the need to virtually eliminate the most persistent toxic substances that remain in the environment for extended periods of time before breaking down and
bioaccumulative Bioaccumulation is the gradual accumulation of substances, such as pesticides or other chemicals, in an organism. Bioaccumulation occurs when an organism absorbs a substance at a rate faster than that at which the substance is lost or eliminated ...
toxic substances that accumulate within living organisms. Two federal ministries,
Health Canada Health Canada (HC; french: Santé Canada, SC)Health Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Health (). is the Structure of the Canadian federal government#Departments, with subsidiary unit ...
and
Environment and Climate Change Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC; french: Environnement et Changement climatique Canada),Environment and Climate Change Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of the Environment ...
as they were known in 2022, work in partnership to assess potentially toxic substances and to develop regulations to control toxic substances. Section 93 of the act provides the authority to the federal government to make regulations to restrict and manage the Canadian List of Toxic Substances (LOTS). Toxic substances have characteristics outlined in Section 64. Once a regulation is proposed, interested parties have 60 days to provide comments on the proposed instrument or may file a notice of objection requesting that a board of review be established.


History

The act was originally enacted in 1988 and was designed to provide a systematic approach to assess and manage chemical substances in the environment that were not addressed under existing programs. In 1990 with ''SOR/90-583: Ozone-depleting Substances Regulations No. 2 (certain bromofluorocarbons)'' were added to the LOTS. In 1997 the
Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...
adjudicated the case of '' R. v. Hydro-Québec'', by which an attempt was made to enforce the CEPA in the matter of poly-chlorinated biphenyls as a large quantity of said substances had been dumped into a stream by the respondent. Justices
Gérard La Forest Gérard Vincent La Forest (born April 1, 1926) is a former puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. He served there from January 16, 1985 to September 30, 1997. He is currently counsel at law firm Stewart McKelvey in Fredericton, New Brunsw ...
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Claire L'Heureux-Dubé Claire L'Heureux-Dubé (born September 7, 1927) is a retired Canadian judge who served as a puisne justice on the Supreme Court of Canada from 1987 to 2002. She was the first woman from Quebec and the second woman appointed to this position, aft ...
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Charles Gonthier Charles Doherty Gonthier, (August 1, 1928 – July 16, 2009) was a Puisne judge on the Supreme Court of Canada from February 1, 1989 to August 1, 2003. He was replaced by Morris Fish. Early life Gonthier was born in Montreal, Quebec to Ge ...
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Peter Cory Peter deCarteret Cory, (October 25, 1925 – April 7, 2020) was a puisne judge of the Supreme Court of Canada, from 1989 to 1999. Early life and education Born in Windsor, Ontario, the son of Andrew and Mildred (Beresford Howe) Cory, he was educ ...
and
Beverley McLachlin Beverley Marian McLachlin (born September 7, 1943) is a Canadian jurist and author who served as the 17th chief justice of Canada from 2000 to 2017. She is the longest-serving chief justice in Canadian history and the first woman to hold the p ...
held that "the environment is not, as such, a subject matter of legislation under the
Constitution Act, 1867 The ''Constitution Act, 1867'' (french: Loi constitutionnelle de 1867),''The Constitution Act, 1867'', 30 & 31 Victoria (U.K.), c. 3, http://canlii.ca/t/ldsw retrieved on 2019-03-14. originally enacted as the ''British North America Act, 186 ...
. Rather, it is a diffuse subject that cuts across many different areas of constitutional responsibility, some federal, some provincial. If a provision relating to the environment in pith and substance falls within the parameters of any power assigned to the body that enacted the legislation, then it is constitutionally valid." The fines were upheld and the CEPA was deemed valid legislation under the criminal law power. After being reviewed in the 1990s, it was replaced by the current legislation that provides new powers for health and environmental protection. It was introduced by the 26th Canadian Ministry as Bill C-32 on March 12, 1998, subsequently receiving
royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...
on September 14, 1999. The act came into force on March 31, 2000. As a Canadian statute, the act is unique for including a declaration of "primary purpose" in addition to a preamble. On April 23, 2021, the LOTS was amended by regulation to include plastic manufactured items, in advance of the June 20, 2022, regulation for the Canadian ban on single-use plastics (SUP), which was introduced by the
Minister of Environment and Climate Change The minister of environment and climate change (french: ministre de l'environnement et du changement climatique) is a minister of the Crown in the Cabinet of Canada. The portfolio is responsible for the Environment and Climate Change Canada, a ...
Steven Guilbeault. The SUP ban included such items as straws, takeout containers, grocery bags, cutlery, stir sticks and plastic rings. The act received ENVI committee attention in 2021 because of Volkswagen Dieselgate. As of July 2022, the act had received 13 amendments over its quarter-century existence.


New and existing substances


Toxic substances

Toxic substances have characteristics outlined in Section 64 of the CEPA. Once a regulation is proposed, interested parties have 60 days to provide comments on the proposed instrument or may file a notice of objection requesting that a Board of Review be established. A useful case study for process of addition to the list is discovered by the travels of
microplastic beads Microbeads are manufactured solid plastic particles of less than one millimeter in their largest dimension. They are most frequently made of polyethylene but can be of other petrochemical plastics such as polypropylene and polystyrene. They are u ...
: The end of the public input process occurred on March 10, 2016; they were added to the LOTS on June 29; on November 5 proposed regulations on their uses were put forth for public comment; on June 14, 2017, final regulations were published; and on July 1, 2018, the manufacture and import of all toiletries that contain plastic microbeads were prohibited.


New substances

All new substances must be evaluated for human health and environmental risks before they can be manufactured or imported into Canada. Responsibility for these evaluations is shared between
Environment Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC; french: Environnement et Changement climatique Canada),Environment and Climate Change Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of the Environment ( ...
and
Health Canada Health Canada (HC; french: Santé Canada, SC)Health Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Health (). is the Structure of the Canadian federal government#Departments, with subsidiary unit ...
and is administered by the New Substances Program, which administers regulations relating to the notification of new substances into the environment.


Existing substances

Existing substances include all 23,000 substances that were in use in Canada prior to the establishment of the New Substances Notification Program, and they are all listed on the ''Domestic Substances List'' (DSL). The act required systematic screening of these substances, a process that was completed in September 2006, which led to the development of the Chemicals Management Plan.


Biotechnology

The 23,000 existing substances on the DSL included 67 microbial strains and 2 complex microbial cultures. These substances were subject to a separate prioritization assessment and accordingly evaluated. Health Canada and Environment Canada share responsibility for conducting risk assessments of new biotechnology products (including micro-organisms) that are not subject to a pre-manufacture toxicity assessment under other federal legislation. Under the act, both naturally occurring and genetically modified organisms are evaluated under the ''New Substances Notification Regulations (Organisms)''. Risk assessment decisions are summarized and posted publicly.


Enforcement, penalties and prosecution

Enforcement activities related to the act can include: * warnings regarding the existence of a violation so that the alleged offender can act and return to compliance; * directions to deal with or to prevent illegal releases of regulated substances; * tickets for offences (e.g. failure to submit written reports); * various orders (e.g. prohibition orders, orders to recall illegal substances or products from the marketplace, environmental protection compliance orders to put an immediate stop to illegal activity) to prevent a violation from occurring or require action to be taken; * injunctions; * prosecution under the authority of a Crown prosecutor; and * environmental protection alternative measures. REHANT


''Environmental Enforcement Act''

Fines under the
Environmental Enforcement Act A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale ...
(EEA) range from $5,000 to $6,000,000. The EEA applies to offences under CEPA 1999. The EEA also allows the enforcement officers to arrest a person without warrant, to seize or detain items related to a CEPA 1999 offence or related evidence, and to detain or redirect ships suspected of an offence. Convictions or indictments under the EEA can also result in imprisonment up to three years. Prosecutions under CEPA 1999 are listed on Environment Canada's website.


Selected regulations

* Prohibition of Certain Toxic Substances Regulations * Prohibition of
Asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...
and Products Containing Asbestos Regulations * Canadian Toys Regulation * Health Canada Medical Device Licensing * Canadian
Phthalates Phthalates (, ), or phthalate esters, are esters of phthalic acid. They are mainly used as plasticizers, i.e., substances added to plastics to increase their flexibility, transparency, durability, and longevity. They are used primarily to soften ...
Regulations (SOR/2016-188) * Products Containing Mercury Regulations


See also

*
Enforcement and compliance under CEPA 1999


References

{{Reflist, 3 Canadian federal legislation 1999 in Canadian law Air pollution in Canada Environmental law in Canada 1999 in the environment