Fact Sheet - The Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 and the Assessment of Existing Substances

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An existing substance is a substance that has been or is currently used in Canada as a commercial substance or product, or released as a single substance, an effluent, a mixture or a contaminant into the Canadian environment. This includes substances appearing on the Domestic Substances List.

More efficient processes for identifying, screening, assessing and managing toxic substances were introduced in CEPA 1999. Two measures were included in the Act - the Categorization and Screening of the Domestic Substances List (DSL) and the review of decisions of other jurisdictions.

The Priority Substances Assessment Program (PSAP) was initiated under CEPA 1988. In CEPA 1999, this program continues to play a key role, particularly when issues associated with substances are difficult and complex, and warrant a comprehensive assessment.

According to Section 64 of CEPA 1999, a substance is "toxic" if it is entering or may enter the environment in a quantity or concentration or under conditions that:

Determining a substance to be CEPA "toxic" is therefore a function of its release into the environment, the resulting concentrations in environmental media, and its inherent toxicity.

The DSLincludes substances that were, between January 1, 1984, and December 31, 1986, in Canadian commerce, used for manufacturing purposes, or manufactured in or imported into Canada in a quantity of 100 kg or more in any calendar year. The List is regularly amended to include additional substances that become eligible following assessment under the New

Substances Notification Regulations. The DSL currently contains approximately 23,000 substances.

CEPA 1999 requires that all substances on the DSL that have not been subject to notification and assessment as new substances be categorized within seven years of Royal Assent, which occurred September 14, 1999.

The first phase of this Program, categorization, involves the systematic identification of substances on the DSL that should be subject to screening level risk assessment. For this purpose, categorization is looking for substances that:

The screening level risk assessment considers whether the substance is "toxic" or capable of becoming "toxic," and may result in one of the following outcomes:

From time to time the Minister may be informed of a decision by another jurisdiction to prohibit or substantially restrict a substance for environmental or health reasons. Canadian provinces or territories and member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are recognized as other jurisdictions under CEPA 1999. When the Minister receives such information, a review of the information supporting the decision is undertaken to ascertain whether it supports a determination that the substance is "toxic" or capable of becoming "toxic" in a Canadian context.

The Ministers of the Environment and Health are required to develop a list of substances that are given priority for assessment to determine whether they are "toxic" or capable of becoming "toxic" as defined under Section 64 of CEPA 1999. This list is known as the Priority Substances List (PSL). The responsibility for assessing priority substances is shared by Environment Canada and Health Canada. These represent comprehensive assessments of all relevant aspects of

a substance, and can involve information gathering and testing. CEPA is very prescriptive about the time available to complete assessments, including circumstances where testing is needed.

Substances that are declared "toxic" under CEPA 1999 are placed on Schedule 1 of the Act. They are then considered for risk management measures, such as regulations, guidelines or codes of practice to control any aspect of their life cycle, from the research and development stage through manufacture, use, storage, transport and ultimate disposal.

When a substance is determined to be "toxic" or capable of becoming "toxic," and is persistent, bioaccumulative and results primarily from human activity, then it is proposed for virtual elimination under CEPA 1999.

Virtual elimination is the reduction of releases to the environment of the most dangerous toxic substances to a level below which these releases cannot be accurately measured.

CEPA Environmental Registry

351 St. Joseph Boulevard
Hull, Quebec K1A 0H3
Telephone: 819-997-2800
toll-free: 1-800-668-6767
Fax: 819-994-1412
E-mail: enviroinfo@ec.gc.ca

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