Regulatory
REGULATORY NEWS FOR WEEK OF AUGUST 5, 2019
Canadian Federal News
A Notice of Intent to vary or rescind the requirements under the Significant New Activity (SNAc) provisions of the Canadian Environmental Act, 1999 (CEPA) to 110 substances under the Government of Canada’s Chemicals Management Plan, in the Canada Gazette, Part I. The names and CAS Registry Numbers of the 110 substances can be found in the Notice of Intent.
From August 1, 2019, in addition to the mail or courier mode, you will be able to call 1-833-225-2883 (in Canada) or 819-994-8167 (outside Canada) for the payment of the new substances program fee. This phone line should only be used to allow the authorization of the payment for NSN.
A new edition of the following standard has been developed by the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) Technical Committee on the Packaging, handling, offering for transport and transport of Explosives (Class 1) and was published in July 2019:
CAN/CGSB-43.151-2019 “Packaging, handling, offering for transport and transport of Explosives (Class 1)”. The new standard comes into force on January 31, 2020.
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is considering amending the sulphur compliance flexibilities of the Sulphur in Gasoline Regulations. The Regulations establish limits for the concentration of sulphur in gasoline produced, imported or sold in Canada. Comments are to required by August 14th, 2019.
The definition of lot code has been updated to include examples. This glossary includes and identifies terms that are defined in the Safe Food for Canadians Act and in the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR), as well as the Food and Drugs Act and the Food and Drug Regulations. Additional terms are also included and have generally been defined using their ordinary meaning.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is warning the public about ongoing email, text messages or telephone scams in which people posing as officials from the CBSA are asking for personal information, including Social Insurance Number (SIN). The methods used by the scammers to communicate with the public, and the rational provided to justify being in contact with the victim, are varied, ever changing, but always designed to lure the public into providing personal information.
In some cases, these scams use false CBSA information. Telephone calls may display numbers and employee names that appear to be from the CBSA. Emails may contain CBSA logos, email addresses or employee names and titles to mislead the readers.
The risk management options under consideration for phenol, 4-chloro-3-methyl, commonly known as chlorocresol. In particular, the Government of Canada is considering:
- Communicating measures to reduce exposures to chlorocresol from certain cosmetics by describing chlorocresol as prohibited or restricted ingredients on the Health Canada Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist; and
- Communicating measures to reduce exposures to chlorocresol from certain natural health products and non-prescription drug products by modifying the existing entry(ies) in the Natural Health Products Ingredients Database and impacted monographs; and
- Applying Significant New Activity (SNAc) provisions under Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA) to chlorocresol that would require any proposed new manufacture, import or use of natural health products and pharmaceutical products containing this substance to be subject to further assessment and potential risk management.
Canadian Provincial News
Bill 2: An Act to Make Alberta Open for Business received royal assent on July 18, 2019, and the changes to the holiday pay and banked overtime agreements will be in effect on September 1, 2019.
US News
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing significant new use rules (SNURs) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for 31 chemical substances which were the subject of premanufacture notices. 7 of these chemical substances are subject to Orders issued by EPA pursuant to TSCA section 5(e). This action would require persons who intend to manufacture (defined by statute to include import) or process any of these 31 chemical substances for an activity that is proposed as a significant new use to notify EPA at least 90 days before commencing that activity. The required notification initiates EPA’s evaluation of the use, under the conditions of use for that chemical substance, within the applicable review period. Persons may not commence manufacture or processing for the significant new use until EPA has conducted a review of the notice, made an appropriate determination on the notice, and has taken such actions as are required by that determination.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is continuing its commitment to transparency by making additional information about new chemical notices available to the public on the agency’s website. Visitors to the updated chemical review status tracker can view and search monthly updates for any active Premanufacture Notice (PMN), Significant New Use Notice (SNUN) and Microbial Commercial Activity Notice (MCAN) of interest by case number. It is important to note that this tool will continue to keep confidential business information confidential. There are 443 PMN/SNUN/MCAN cases in the chemical review process; of these, approximately 26 cases are in the risk assessment phase, 174 cases are in the risk characterization phase, 157 cases are awaiting additional information from the submitter, 65 cases are in the regulatory decision and action development stage, and 21 cases are awaiting the submitter signature for an Order.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced a crash preventability demonstration program to evaluate the preventability of eight categories of crashes through submissions of Requests for Data Review to its national data correction system known as DataQs. After 18 months of operating the program, FMCSA has decided to operate a crash preventability determination program, using a streamlined process, and proposes to modify the Safety Measurement System to remove crashes found to be not preventable from the prioritization algorithm and noting the not preventable determinations in the Pre-Employment Screening Program. In addition, FMCSA proposes to consolidate two of the original crash types in the demonstration program and start reviewing additional crash types to determine if crashes in the additional categories are predominantly not preventable. FMCSA seeks comments on its implementation of these changes and on the new crash types. The consultation closes October 4, 2019.
Section 301 List 4 goods, that are of China origin, will begin being subject to China Tariffs of 10% beginning on September 1st. List 4 contains 3805 full and partial HTSUS subheadings, covering all apparel, footwear, textile products, toys, along with many others. This latest round will be the hardest felt by consumers.
International News
The updated rules have been developed with the assistance of relevant parties and interest groups, such as carriers, international traders, insurers, lawyers and economists. Publication is scheduled for September or October 2019, whereupon the ICC and other organisations involved in international trade will organise events and training sessions to familiarise users with the uniform interpretation of the new rules. A new Cost and Insurance (CNI) rule is expected to be introduced, whereby sellers will be responsible for taking out insurance, while buyers bear the risk and costs of carriage. This change is intended to cover the existing vacuum between the current FCA and CFR rules.
Changes are also expected to both the FCA rule (which will be divided into a rule applicable to any mode of transport and a rule applicable to sea and inland waterway transport) and the DDP rule.
It is anticipated that the new Incoterms rules will also reflect changes to the old FOB and CIF rules accommodating goods being transported by container.
Finally, it is reported that the ICC will use the new Incoterms rules to explicitly address data privacy and cybersecurity issues, since carriers and terminals are among those exposed to such digital threats as distributed denial of service attacks and theft of financial or commercial data.
Other Relevant Information
Safety Share
Safety signs are essential for preventing accidents and injury. Symbols that are internationally agreed and globally used in safety signs ensure clarity and consistency, regardless of language, culture or setting. The ISO standard (ISO 3864-3:2012) that is a reference for safety signs has just been updated to incorporate new safety signs that are in use around the world.
Heat exhaustion can come on quickly when the body overheats to 40°C. Symptoms of heat exhaustion include dizziness, nausea, headache, clammy skin and intense thirst. Worse, heat exhaustion can lead to heat stroke, a more serious condition that can cause brain damage, unconsciousness and even death.
So how can you protect yourself (or your employees) from heat hazards at work? Here are some pointers, whether the work happens outdoors or inside under hot conditions.
- Acclimatize. If you’re new to the job or you’ve been away from work for a week or more, give your body a chance to adapt to the hot working conditions. According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS), people typically need six to seven days to thoroughly acclimatize.
- Heed the humidex. Humidex ratings tell us how hot we actually feel when heat and humidity mix to an uncomfortable or unsafe degree. The higher the humidex, the harder it is to cool down by sweating. It’s important that employers monitor other factors that affect how hot it feels in the workplace, such as air flow, workload, radiant heat sources, and the age and physical health of workers.
- Drink lots of water. When your sweat glands are working overtime, you need to stay hydrated. Aim to drink about one litre of water every hour and stay away from caffeine and alcohol, which are dehydrating.
- Seek shade. Avoid working in the sun — particularly between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., when the sun’s UV rays are the strongest. And don’t forget to reapply sunscreen every couple of hours if you do work in the sun.
- Wear protective clothing. If you’re working outdoors, opt for light-coloured clothing, a hat and sunglasses (or safety glasses with UV protection, depending on the task). People who work in very hot environments or around high radiant heat (from furnaces, steam pipes or hot metal, for example) may need to wear heat-reflective clothing or special suits cooled by air, water or ice.
- Look out for each other! People generally don’t notice when they have heat exhaustion, so it’s important that workers be trained in recognizing its signs and symptoms and when to call for medical help.
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