Regulatory
REGULATORY NEWS FOR WEEK OF MARCH 25, 2020
Canadian Federal News
Pursuant to Standing Order 28(3), the Honourable Anthony Rota, Speaker of the House of Commons, has given notice for the House to meet on Tuesday, March 24, 2020, at 12:00 p.m., for the consideration of measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) will host a webinar on Wednesday March 25th at 1:00pm EDT to assist the trucking industry. On this webinar, CVSA will offer personal protection and decontamination guidelines, a primary concern for everyone on the frontline. We will also cover inspection guidelines and regulations applicable to shipping patient samples and hospital waste associated with the virus.
In light of the unprecedented demand and urgent need for products that can help limit the spread of COVID-19—including hand sanitizers, disinfectants and personal protective equipment (such as masks and gowns)—as well as swabs, Health Canada is facilitating access to products that may not fully meet current regulatory requirements, as an interim measure.
The CFIA is aware that the COVID-19 pandemic is having operational impacts for our industry partners. The National Import Service Centre is working to prioritize the workload, while experiencing a higher call volume than normal.
Please refrain from calling to check on the status of your shipment, unless submitted via IID and four hours has passed since submission. You may also wish to contact us via email at [email protected] for information on your shipments. In addition, during this period and until further notice, we will only be accepting enquiries via email during weekends. We wish to ensure that you are kept informed as we all navigate the ever-changing COVID-19 outbreak. To this end, we have also established a web page, Inspection.gc.ca/covid19-industry that will provide industry-specific up-to-date information.
Effective immediately, if you have the capability to declare electronically using OGD PARS / RMD or IID, you must declare all non-commercial using one of the Agency’s electronic declaration options. Faxing import declaration paperwork to CFIA will no longer be an option for declaring non-commercial shipments for those capable of using OGD PARS / RMD or IID.
All those who declare CFIA regulated products to the CBSA are strongly encouraged to make the full transition to IID now.
If you are not certified for IID yet, contact the CBSA’s Technical Commercial Client Unit:
Telephone: 1-888-957-7224
Fax: 343-291-5482
Email: [email protected]
In support of the Government of Canada’s whole-of-government response to Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), we are asking suppliers about their ability to provide products and services.
Products and services needed
If you can provide items from the list, or other items not listed, please complete our submission form for Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) products and services.
Products
- Disposable N95 masks
- Disposable surgical masks
- Nitrile gloves
- Vinyl gloves
- Gowns
- Bottles of hand sanitizer
- Other prevention products
- Services
- Guard / security services
- Nursing services
- Food services
- Laundry services
- Accommodation maintenance services
- Personal services
- IT support services
- Other services
For more information, please contact: The InfoLine: [email protected]
- Health Canada asking for disinfectants and hand sanitizers
Responsible Distribution Canada has been asked by Health Canada to disseminate the following information regarding disinfectants and hand sanitizers. If your company can help, please follow these instructions.
Due to the unprecedented demand and urgent need for disinfectants and hand sanitizers during the COVID-19 pandemic, an interim measure has been implemented to expedite access to supplies of products that may not fully meet regulatory requirements under the Food and Drugs Act. Persons requesting to undertake exceptional release of disinfectants or sanitizers are required to complete this form. As part of this submission, persons are asked to self-triage their proposal. Please submit the completed form to: [email protected]. Level 1 or 2 requests only require notification to Health Canada by submitting this completed form. Level 3 or 4 requests require a case-by-case review by Health Canada. For any questions related to this process, please contact Health Canada at: [email protected].
HC Disinfectant Sanitizing Form EN
Small and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of the Canadian economy. During this extraordinary time, the Government of Canada is taking strong action to help Canadian businesses as COVID-19 is affecting them, their employees and their families.
We are happy to inform you that the TDG Regulations are now available on Justice Canada’s website.
The objective of these regulatory amendments is to amend the Hazardous Products Regulations and the Hazardous Materials Information Review Regulations, and repeal the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act Appeal Board Procedures Regulations, to align with the amendments to the HMIRA that received royal assent on June 21, 2019, via the Budget Implementation Act, 2019, No. 1. The amendments are consequential in nature.
Due to the situation with coronavirus (COVID-19), the program is adapting and ask for your kind cooperation to ensure that quality and timely services continued to be delivered, wherever possible.
1. New Substances Notification (NSN)
Effective upon receipt of this letter, please submit a notification using Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Single Window (SWIM) or by e-mail ([email protected]).
2. Information Requests
For any requests, please continue using the Management Information Line either by phone (1-800-567-1999 (toll-free in Canada) or 819-938-3232) or by email ([email protected]). We will respond to your requests as quickly as possible.
3. Payments
At this time, payments cannot be processed immediately upon acknowledgement of receipt of notification packages. However, payments will be processed at a later date, in communication to the company. Evaluation of files will continue regardless of the payment processing delays. The Fee Payment Line will not be available in the coming weeks.
4. Public comments
Please continue to use SWIM as mentioned in the publication notice and you can email your questions to ([email protected]).
Twenty-two (22) new substances were published in the Canada Gazette II, along with two (2) Significant New Activity Notices and three (3) new organisms.
Canadian Provincial News
Due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak, WorkSafeBC is granting extensions on any occupational first aid, or equivalent certificates, that are due to expire between March 1, 2020 and June 30, 2020. These certificates will now be acceptable in the workplace for 90 days beyond their original expiry date.
These new regulations include extensions for driver licences, licence plate validation, Ontario Photo Cards, and Commercial Vehicle Operator Registration certificates, among others. Expiring and expired health cards will continue to provide access to health services.
The Ontario Government is launching Ontario Together, a new website that will help businesses and their employees work with the province to meet the challenges of COVID-19. This initiative will remove barriers allowing Ontario’s manufacturing sector to redeploy capacity towards the production of essential equipment like ventilators, masks and swabs.
US News
March 18, 2020 – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) today issued an expanded national emergency declaration to provide hours-of-service regulatory relief to commercial vehicle drivers transporting emergency relief in response to the nationwide coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing amendments to the Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule that reduce the burden for certain CDR reporters, improve the quality of CDR data collected and align reporting requirements with the Lautenberg Act amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). This action is the latest in a recent series of TSCA accomplishments that further advance EPA’s efforts to ensure chemical safety, increase transparency, and provide clarity for stakeholders.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing significant new use rules (SNURs) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for the chemical substances identified in Unit IV. which were the subject of premanufacture notices (PMNs). This rule is effective on May 19, 2020. For purposes of judicial review, this rule shall be promulgated at 1 p.m. (EST) on April 3, 2020.
EPA is proposing significant new use rules (SNURs) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for chemical substances which are the subject of premanufacture notices (PMNs) and a microorganism that was the subject of a Microbial Commercial Activity Notice (MCAN). This action would require persons to notify EPA at least 90 days before commencing manufacture (defined by statute to include import) or processing of any of these chemical substances for an activity that is designated as a significant new use by this proposed rule.
International News
The Committee for Socio-economic Analysis (SEAC) adopted its opinion on the restriction proposal for siloxanes (D4, D5, D6) in personal care products while the Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) adopted its opinion, among others, on skin sensitising substances used in textile and leather products. SEAC also agreed on its draft opinion on ECHA’s proposal to restrict the placing on the market, manufacture and use of five cobalt salts as substances on their own or in mixtures in a concentration equal or above 0.01 % by weight in industrial and professional applications.
RAC and SEAC supported Norway’s proposal to restrict the manufacture or placing on the market of PFHxS (linear or branched), its salts or related substances and as a constituent of another substance, in a mixture or in articles.
Furthermore, SEAC supported ECHA’s proposal to restrict the placing on the market of articles releasing formaldehyde at concentrations greater than 0.124 mg/m3 and that a formaldehyde concentration of 0.1 mg/m3 shall not be exceeded in the interiors of road vehicles and aircraft. RAC’s opinion supported the proposal but included several proposed modifications to its scope and conditions.
Other Relevant Information
Safety Share
The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) has tools to help employers prepare for pandemics and to protect employees.
Montreal Gazette March 20, 2020 – The Right Chemistry: In hand washing, role of soap is key.
- National Fire Protection Association’s official mascot, Sparky the Fire Dog celebrates 69th birthday
March 18, 2020 – Everybody’s favorite fire safety dog, Sparky the Fire Dog®, celebrates his 69th birthday today! In recognition of Sparky’s big day, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is reminding the public that fire continues to present real risks and must be taken seriously: A structure fire occurs in the U.S. every 24 seconds, resulting in an annual average of 493,797 fires, 2,844 deaths, 12,812 injuries, and $10.5 billion in direct property damage.
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