As you can imagine, REACH has been the subject of a lot of consideration within both departments for some time now. One important thing to understand about REACH is that it's not yet in effect. Indeed, we don't know yet when it will be in effect or what it will actually contain when it does come into effect. It has been delayed and modified over many years now.
The current version of REACH would do two main things. One, it would enable the European Union to gather information. Second, it would establish a regime for enabling the European Union to manage the risks from certain substances--not all substances, but some substances.
I think what is important for members of the committee to consider is that Canada has already gathered most of that information. We've gone beyond half of REACH. We've already got the information. That's why, when I responded to Mr. Godfrey's question earlier, I said the real issue now is what to do with that information. And in terms of the authorities within CEPA, are the authorities within CEPA adequate to allow us to do what you want us to do with that information?
I come back to the breadth of authority that's provided to us. We can do a lot with that information. Really, what we need to do is to develop an appropriate strategy so that we can use that information and improve the way we manage risks from chemicals in Canada.
So we don't need the REACH authorities. If we were starting from the same place, maybe the REACH information-gathering authorities would be a useful model to look at, but we've gone beyond that. We need to ask, what kind of authorities do we need, and what kind of implementation strategy do we need, to act on the information that we actually already have and that Europe is nowhere near obtaining?