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Previous legislation
The Canada Consumer Product Safety Act was introduced in Parliament on January 29, 2009. It died on the order paper when Parliament was prorogued in December 2009.
A similarly named Bill was introduced in Parliament by the Canadian government on April 8, 2008, but it also died on the order paper when Parliament was dissolved prior to the 2008 election.
This legislation will take a number of months (at least) to implement. Despite this, companies should understand the implications of this new legislation. In general, The CCPSA will make it much easier for the Canadian government to introduce new product standards/regulations and allow it to recall unsafe consumer products from the marketplace. The CCPSA and the broader Consumer Product Safety Action Plan were drafted following a review of the current legislation for product standards (Hazardous Products Act). Regulations currently in place under the Hazardous Products Act remain in force, and will be incorporated into the new Act. The Action Plan is aimed at:emphasizing industry's responsibility to provide safe products;
strengthening enforcement authorities, including the creation of a recall authority;
providing more and better information for the public and decision-makers on health products, including pharmaceuticals;
improving the safety of imported products;
ensuring better record keeping; and
instituting mandatory reporting.
In addition, the CCPSA creates a general prohibition against the sale of unsafe products in Canada. For industry, the government claims that result will be a more predictable, flexible, and responsive regulatory system. While all industries will welcome predictability, there is a real potential for additional compliance costs to be imposed on business, and it is CAF's position that the provisions of the legislation should clearly address consumer safety while also addressing compliance costs. The CCPSA will also make it easier for government to react quickly to new safety “risks”. Under the current system it is very difficult to add new product safety regulations. While consumers will welcome changes which allow government to address new risks as they present themselves, manufacturers will understand that because raw materials are ordered months in advance of the finished good being sold in the marketplace, there may be situations where a prohibition might be imposed by Health Canada on products that are already in production. As a result CAF wants to ensure that the system is as predictable as possible and that any decisions concerning specific risks or new product standards address significant health risks and are done in a way to minimize compliance costs.The CCPSA will also introduce and Administrative Monetary Penalty System (AMPS) - which will allow the department to impose fines for non-compliance.This legislation raises the bar for apparel companies, especially those that operate in sensitive product areas such as childrenswear. Recent product recalls in Canada and the United States have provided an incentive for governments to focus on children's products. This special scrutiny extends to toys, jewelry, and apparel. As a result, there is going to be a higher regulatory threshold, going forward, for companies that import or produce children's products for sale in the North American marketplace. Over the coming months, CAF will monitor the legislation and seek the advice of members affected by its provisions. Separately from this legislation, we are working to expand the amount of information we have on product standards, both in Canada and abroad. Major initiatives are under way in the European Community on chemicals (REACH), and the United States is in the process of implementing the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. These regulations are creating new challengers for companies.Interested companies that want to follow progress of the legislation can click here for a summary of the proposed legislation and a status report on its progress through Parliament.of the legislation's provision (please note that it refers to the legislation introduced in 2008). This highlights many of the potential problems with the legislation, the majority of which remain unchanged in the 2009 bill.