G/TBT/N/CAN/631  
22 December 2020  
(20-9280) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original:  English /French  
 
  
NOTIFICATION  
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6  
 
1. Notifying Member:  CANADA   
If applicable, name of local government involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):   
2. Agency responsible:  Department of Health  
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers , email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above:   
Canada's Notification Auth ority and Enquiry Point  
Technical Barriers and Regulations Division  
Global Affairs Canada  
111 Sussex Drive  
Ottawa (Ontario) K1A 0G2  
Canada  
Telephone: (343)203 -4273 
Fax: (613)943 -0346 
E-mail: enquirypo int@international.gc.ca  
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other :  
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff 
heading. ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Inorganic 
chemicals; organic or inorganic compounds of precious metals, of rare - earth metals, of 
radioactive elements or of isotopes (HS 28); Organic chemicals (HS 29); ENVIRONMENT. 
HEALTH PROTECTION. SAFETY (ICS 13), CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY (ICS  71) 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Regulations 
Amending the Hazardous Products Regulations (GHS, Seventh Revised Edition), (63 
pages, available in English and French) and Order Amending Schedule 2 to the Hazardous 
Products Act (2 pages, available in English and French).  
6. Description of content:  The Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling 
of Chemicals (GHS), developed by the United Nations, is designed to standardize hazard 
classification and commu nication, such as labelling, for hazardous chemicals across 
various countries. A revised edition of the GHS is published every 2 years.  
Canada implemented the 5th revised edition of the GHS as the Hazardous Products 
Regulations on 11 February 2015. Under t he authority of the Hazardous Products Act , 
Canada is proposing to amend the Hazardous Products Regulations  to align with the 7th 
revised edition of the GHS to the extent possible (which includes adopting the changes 
made in the 6th and 7th revised edition s), provide greater clarity or additional precision to 
specific provisions, amend specific provisions to better reflect their original intent, and 
address administrative updates.  
As a result of the proposed amendments to align the Hazardous Products Regulations  with 
the 7th revised edition of the GHS to the extent possible, the Hazardous Products Act  G/TBT/N/CAN/631  
 
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  requires amendments to Schedule 2, which lists the Physical Hazard Classes and Hea lth 
Hazard Classes under the Hazardous Products Regulations .  
The proposed Schedule and regulatory amendments would support the Government of 
Canada in facilitating international trade through common labelling and other hazard 
communication requirements fo r workplace hazardous products; lowering costs for 
businesses and consumers by reducing the need for re -testing and re -classifying 
chemicals from, or for, different markets, as well as by reducing the need for preparing 
multiple sets of labels and safety d ata sheets for different markets; and increasing worker 
protection through adoption of a revised version of the globally recognized standard for 
communicating the hazards associated with workplace hazardous products.  
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable:  Protection of human health or safety  
8. Relevant documents:   
• Canada Gazette , Part 1, 19 December 2020, pages 4236 -4301 (available in 
English and French)  
• The Hazardous Products Regulations  https://laws -
lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/sor -2015-17/index.html  
• The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals 
(GHS), seventh revised e dition 
https://www.unece.org/trans/danger/publi/ghs/ghs_rev07/07files_e.html  
9. Proposed date of adoption:  Within 12 to 18 months of publication in the Canada 
Gazette, P art I. 
Proposed date of entry into force:  It is anticipated that a transition period of two years 
would begin on the date when the proposed amendments come into force. During the 
transition period, both the Hazardous Products Regulations (currently aligned  with the 5th 
revised edition of the GHS) and the amendments aligning the Hazardous Products 
Regulations with the 7th revised edition of the GHS would be in use. At the end of the 
transition period, only the amended Hazardous Products Regulations aligned w ith the 7th 
revised edition of the GHS would be in use.  
10. Final date for comments:  27 February 2021  
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [X] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers and email and website addresses, if available , of other body:   
The electronic version of the proposed regulatory text can be downloaded at:  
http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp -pr/p1/2020/2020 -12-19/html/reg4 -eng.html  
http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp -pr/p1/2020/2020 -12-19/html/reg4 -fra.html  
http://www.gazette.gc.ca /rp-pr/p1/2020/2020 -12-19/html/reg5 -eng.html  
http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp -pr/p1/2020/2020 -12-19/html/reg5 -fra.html