Canada to Address 65 Priority Substances Under CMP

By Fatemeh Bamdad, PhD, senior regulatory specialist, Supply Chain Team, UL Solutions

On April 22, 2023, a Notice of Intent was published in the Canada Gazette, Part I to elaborate on the screening assessments planned for 65 priority substances.

Under the Chemicals Management Plan (CMP), over 4,000 substances were categorized and identified as priority substances. The Government of Canada committed to conduct screening assessments on these substances by the extended deadline of March 2024.

As of March 2023, Health Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) assessed the risks associated with ~95% of the total substances and plan to assess an additional 154 substances by March 2024. In the current notice of intent, the remaining 65 substances are divided into two categories:

• Category 1 – Substances that require further data collection or deemed as not ready for assessment:

• Category 2 – Substance that are covered by other regulatory frameworks:

As outlined in Section 70 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA, 1999), Health Canada and ECCC invite stakeholders to submit any data or information on human or environmental toxicity that may impact the risk assessment of the listed substances.

If the proposed amendments to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (Bill S-5) pass the legislation process, it will require the Government to develop new CMP priorities and assessment programs. Therefore, the current notice of intent facilitates the transition to the future legislation as the notice aims to complete the Government’s commitment to assess priority substances set in 2006.

*Note: The reader is strongly encouraged to read the full text of the notice for complete details and a full list of the substances. Additional information about Section 70 notices can be found on the Government of Canada’s website.

Source

Notice of intent to address 65 existing substances identified as Chemicals Management Plan priorities following categorization and other prioritization mechanisms, Canada Gazette, Part I, Vol. 157, No. 16, April 22, 2023.