The CEPA registry is a very important, already established tool. There's always room for improvement, for sure. Unfortunately, I haven't had an opportunity to explore this new search function. Those are documents that are available already on the CEPA registry.
While you raise the issue of public access to data, the search platforms are one question. I think the bigger issue that we would bring before the committee is the need to really better control claims for confidentiality in the data that is submitted to the federal government in relation to CEPA responsibilities.
Bill S-5 makes one important step in this direction by requiring persons submitting data to provide reasons with their requests for it to be kept confidential. I do accept that the Government of Canada has responsibilities to protect confidential business information when it does indeed meet that test. The problem is that right now those claims are automatically accepted.
We are proposing, as you'll see outlined in our brief, an amendment to Bill S-5 that would create a presumption of non-confidentiality and require the minister to review those claims with reasons and only approve claims that are indeed legitimate.
By the way, we see in a report from the U.S. EPA, where confidential business information claims are routinely audited, that as much as a third are actually rejected and found to be inadmissible. Presumably many of those same claims are being made in Canada and are being automatically approved due to lack of oversight.