Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee.
My name is Jack Soule, and I appreciate the opportunity to appear before the committee today on behalf of the Industry Coordinating Group for CEPA, also known as the CEPA ICG. It's a network that was formed in the mid-1980s around the multi-stakeholder process, which was set up to create the original CEPA. It represents a broad cross-section of industry, and I've attached to your notes a list of the 24 various associations that are part of the CEPA ICG.
We get involved with Environment Canada and Health Canada on matters concerning new and existing substances. The CEPA ICG has participated most recently in the multi-stakeholder discussions that resulted in the revised new substances notification regulations and has also cooperated extensively with Environment Canada and Health Canada on the categorization and screening of the DSL program.
With regard to timelines for the assessment of new substances, we see that these are set out in the new substances notification regulations. They were revised somewhat through the multi-stakeholder consultations from those that were in the original regulations, in response to the experience of Environment Canada and Health Canada in meeting their requirements under the first period.
Some categories were shortened and some were lengthened, but the end result is a reasonable schedule, which I think works for both industry and the government.
With regard to existing substances, there are no prescribed timelines for their assessment, other than those on the priority substances list. This seems appropriate to us as industry, particularly for the categorized substances, for the following reason.
The amount of data available on the range of categorized substances is quite variable, as is the level of detail that will be needed to develop conclusions on these substances. Most substances in use in Canada are imported from other countries. We are not a major producer of chemicals, new chemicals, so a fair portion of the DSL substances are actually imported.
This also complicates the access of the basic data for pursuing this categorization and the screening part of the categorization, the screening of the DSL.
Many substances are also involved in international assessment programs. For example, together the U.S. high production volume challenge program under the EPA and the OECD/ICCA HPV program—that's the Organization for Environmental Cooperation and Development in cooperation with the International Council of Chemical Associations, which has another HPV program—are dealing with thousands of substances. The ICG believes that it is prudent to adapt our timing in order to utilize as much of their work as possible, rather than duplicate it.
The proposed plans of Environment and Health Canada to solicit input from stakeholders at several stages in this new assessment process for screening assessments should serve to expedite the process, as it will ensure that the government has the most recent and current data on which to base its final decision, thereby reducing major interventions on the final reports. We see this as a good improvement for the transparency of the process.
Assessments on substances that have broad international regulatory interest as well as international commercial implications should take these factors into consideration and allow for more extensive input. Many of these substances, which Canada will assess, will also be assessed by others, and we need to collaborate to achieve economy of efforts.
If an overall timeline for completing the screening assessments of categorized substances is being considered, the CEPA ICG would recommend using the SAICM target of 2020 as a guideline or goal, which Canada has agreed to, along with other global signatories.
It is important not to underestimate the scope and challenge of this program. Meeting the 2020 goal will depend so much on garnering international cooperation, which Canada can influence but not control, that this should not become a hard legislative requirement. We should be able to cooperate with the U.S. and their HPV program, but this cooperation may be somewhat constrained, as it has been for the exchange of data on new substances, because there's a lack of authorization for the EPA under TSCA to share confidential information in a confidential manner with other countries. So this has been a hang-up in working cooperatively
We should be able to cooperate with the European Union, but we don't know when REACH will be up and running, or how its overwhelming complexity will affect its operation, and whether their compensation arrangements for information will stymie the sharing of data.
With regard to management tools, the CEPA ICG believes the program to complete the screening assessments of the categorized substances is so significant an undertaking that there is a clear need for well-developed and consistent management tools that are publicly available. They will play a key role in the production of risk assessments that are credible through a process that is both transparent and predictable.
Several important and very helpful tools already exist as government policy documents. They are: A Framework for Federal Science & Technology Advice; Principles and Guidelines for the Effective Use of Science and Technology Advice in Government Decision Making; and A Framework for the Application of Precaution in Science-based Decision Making about Risk. Guidance documents for conducting screening assessments, currently under development by Environment Canada and Health Canada, will also provide significant assistance to all stakeholders.
In the interest of promoting transparency, predictability, and rigour in the screening assessment process, the CEPA ICG has developed a draft set of quality-assurance performance criteria that could serve for the comparison and evaluation of assessments that refer to the two framework documents noted above. Refinement will come through use and with the input from Environment Canada and Health Canada. With the potential for the issuing of considerable numbers of assessments impacting different sectors and different stakeholders, such a comparative measuring system is felt to be necessary.
Management tools that relate to the risk assessment process seem adequate to cover the gamut of eventualities. The new tool that was added in CEPA 1999, the significant new activity notices, has been used quite well in the new substances program but has yet to be employed for existing substances. It seems sufficiently flexible, however, to cover the range of needs between the ultimate control of prohibition and the voluntary approach of an environmental performance agreement.
In conclusion, the CEPA ICG believes the provisions of CEPA 1999 are adequate to handle the anticipated assessment program flowing from the categorization process. This will create significant demands, however, on the resources of both government and industry. If a deadline is felt to be needed, nothing earlier than 2020 should be considered, and this should be a goal rather than a requirement. The Canadian approach to evaluating our list of existing substances is practical and so far seems workable. The current need is for guidance and procedural documentation to help with the details of implementation, so industry can prepare itself for this major task.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the time of the committee.