The emergency response assistance plan is a requirement in regulations since 1985. Basically it establishes the criteria that if you wish to offer for transport, handle, or import dangerous goods that are the most dangerous of dangerous goods, basically those that have reach, those that can cause problems outside of just the accident itself--and you get into all kinds of different chemicals, biological, radioactive, nuclear, explosives--all of those are required to have an emergency response assistance plan.
A company must take a look at its geographic region in relation to where it's going to transport those dangerous goods. It needs to be able to demonstrate to us that it understands what it has, it has the equipment and the technical expertise available 24 hours a day, and that it can respond within a certain timeframe to be able to help first responders should first responders need some help. They need to have the right equipment, be it non-sparking tools, be it the right suits, be it whatever that might be complementary to responding to their particular product. All these things are tied into regulation, right down to what communication equipment you're using and what techniques you're going to utilize, that you have 24-hour technical assistance on the phone, and that you can activate this plan as per requirement.
We go out and review those plans. We audit those plans to make sure they meet the requirements of the regulations and that we're satisfied they could be used effectively in a response, and then that plan is approved and that plan is available for people to utilize when transporting dangerous goods.
With these particular goods, if you do not have an emergency response assistance plan, you cannot transport dangerous goods of those natures--the chemical, biological, radioactive, nuclear, explosives--unless you have an approved plan.