International Trade committee  In terms of the size of the markets, it's estimated to be worth about $200 million annually in terms of the biocides sector. In terms of companies, we have a split: About 69% of the companies are Canadian-based, and about 31% are international.

International Trade committee  Out of the $200 million, we would need to get that. Regarding the percentage of the Canadian market, we would have to get that data for you.

International Trade committee  We know that about 25% of the companies that market these products in Canada are small businesses. A good majority of them, about 75%, operate through licence agreements in Canada. The use of the foreign decisions pathway and additional products entering the market could create new opportunities for Canadian small businesses to enter into licence agreements.

International Trade committee  For that pathway, it's a 90-day review, simply because our scientists would not need to spend as much time on the review process. They would take the review conducted by the American scientists into consideration and would be able to expedite the process.

International Trade committee  We don't anticipate that the agreements will be reached before the regulations are posted. That is something that would unfold afterwards. We're starting first with the United States as a reference country and we'll initiate the review of other regulators afterwards.

International Trade committee  One year after posting, they would come into effect, but then there would be a transition period. We are looking at a transition period of four years for existing disinfectants and surface sanitizers and a bit more time—six years—for products that are used in food establishments.

International Trade committee  We carried out the CG I consultation process. We continued to have consultations up until very recently, and we continue to be open to receiving additional feedback as we work towards the CG II publication.

International Trade committee  Definitely. Thank you for the question. The COVID-19 pandemic really demonstrated the challenges with the current framework and the need to be more agile and have the ability to bring in products more quickly when there are challenges in access to products in Canada. That was a key driver for the change.

International Trade committee  The use of the foreign decisions pathway will be more efficient. The products coming in through that pathway would take 90 days to review. Products that require a full assessment would take a bit longer to review—180 to 210 days, as an example. However, we do have other abbreviated pathways that Canadian companies can use.

International Trade committee  Yes, that is a Canadian company selling products in Canada, but those other faster pathways would also be available to other companies if they wish to use those pathways in Canada.

International Trade committee  We work very closely with the United States Environmental Protection Agency. We have a very close relationship. We've worked together on standards, so we have a lot of confidence in their approach to the way they review those products, just through the long-standing relationship we've built with them over the years.

International Trade committee  Thank you for the question. During the pandemic, we definitely experienced some challenges with availability of the products in the Canadian market. First we experienced a significant number of shortages, and then we needed to react to make sure that we provided access to new products.

International Trade committee  It's difficult to predict whether we would have an increase in the manufacturing of these products, but certainly there would be an ability for more products to enter the market and for more innovative products to enter the market from the United States, as an example. In the future, we are looking to expand beyond the United States as a country of reference, but once those innovative products enter the market, there is the ability for companies in Canada to go under a licence agreement, as an example, to be able to also market the same product in Canada.

International Trade committee  Thank you for the question. This regulation applies only to a product that has a claim that it will prevent disease by preventing the growth of bacteria or viruses or by being able to kill microbes so that it prevents disease in humans. These are the types of products that we're targeting.

International Trade committee  To start off with, we have identified the United States Environmental Protection Agency as the first key competent international regulator that we will use to recognize their reviews, and the way that we've identified that is we did a very detailed crosswalk of their regulatory requirements against our requirements, including our scientific requirements, to make sure that they aligned very closely.