General Information

This section includes a variety of general information that is related to the activities which take place under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999. Such information is broad in nature and includes documents such as recent CEPA 1999 annual reports and fact sheets.

Fact Sheets

CEPA Annual Reports

Committees

Interdepartmental Cooperation

The Environment Canada/Health Canada CEPA Management Committee

The CEPA Management Committee was established pursuant to the 1990 Memorandum of Understanding between Environment Canada and Health Canada concerning toxic substances and CEPA. It oversees Environment Canada and Health Canada programs dealing with priority substances, new chemicals and biotechnology products, the development of regulatory and non-regulatory control options for toxic substances, amendments to CEPA and its regulations and other related issues. Joint subcommittees have been set up to address new chemicals and toxic substances.

The National Advisory Committee (NAC) Under CEPA 1999

Under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, Section 6 provides for the CEPA National Advisory Committee (NAC) to be the main intergovernmental forum for the purpose of enabling national action and avoiding duplication in regulatory activity among governments.

The Environmental Registry

The Environmental Registry was launched on Environment Canada's web site with the proclamation of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA 1999) on March 31, 2000 as required under Section 12 of CEPA 1999.

The goal of the Registry is to make it easier to access current information related to the Act such as:

  • Regulations
  • Canada Gazette notices and orders
  • Permits
  • Guidelines
  • Codes of practice
  • Agreements
  • Plans
  • Policies
  • Substances
  • Enforcement and compliance actions

Most importantly, the Environmental Registry is available for Canadians to understand how the federal government administers CEPA 1999 and to participate in the consultation and decision making processes under the Act. Industry, environmental, labor, health and aboriginal groups and individuals are examples of those who are continually invited to participate in a wide variety of public consultations.

Since the launch of the Environmental Registry, ongoing efforts have been made to increase the Registry's reliability and user friendliness. The Registry continues to expand in order to serve Canadians better and now encompasses thousands of documents related to the Act. The content and structure of the Registry is always evolving as new documents are added and as improvements are recommended by users.

If you have suggested improvements to the Environmental Registry, please write to: CEPARegistry@ec.gc.ca