. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/CAN/194 
5 February 2007 
 (07-0483) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   CANADA
 
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):         
2. Agency responsible:   Ontario Ministry of the Environment 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and web-site 
addresses, if available) of  agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be  indicated if different from above:    
Canadian Enquiry Point 
200-270 Albert Street Ottawa, Ontario Canada, K1P 6N7   
Tel.: (+1) 613 238 3222 
Fax.: (+1) 613 569 7808 Email:  info@scc.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):   Used oil in space heaters 
(ICS:  75.160, 97.100, 27.060) 
5. Title, number of pages and langua ge(s) of the notified document:   Notice of Proposal for 
Regulation: A ban on the burning of used oil in space heaters  (3 pages, in English). 
6. Description of content:   The Ministry of the Environment intends to ban the burning of 
used oil (i.e. waste-derived fuel) for th e purposes of space heating through a regulation 
amending Regulation 347, made under the E nvironmental Protection Act.  The draft 
regulation is specific to "waste-derived fuel" as defined in Regulation 347, but the more 
commonly recognized term “used oil” will be used throughout this posting.  The draft 
regulation stipulates that the burning of used oil is banned unless an air approval authorizing 
the activity has been issued prio r to 11 January 2007 (the date of this proposal posting). 
The proposed ban does not apply to facilities in  northern Ontario.  The proposed ban also 
does not affect agricultural operations that burn th eir own used oil.  It is proposed that the 
ban not take effect until 1 June 2009 for facilities that, prior to 11 January  2007 (the date of 
this posting), have received an air certificate of approval issued under section 9 of the 
Environmental Protection Act authorizing the activity. 
The draft regulation also amends Regulation 347 to designate used lubricating oil as a 
waste.  G/TBT/N/CAN/194 
Page 2  
 
Context: 
 
The burning of used oil in space heaters is cons idered to be a less than state-of-the-art 
management option for used oil.  Lubricating oil is specially formulated with chemical 
additives designed for its individual application a nd is not intended to be used as fuel.  Used 
oil is typically contaminated with elevated levels of additives, heavy metals and organic 
compounds when compared to natural gas and other commercially available heating fuels. 
In addition, these heaters have no emission c ontrol equipment to mitigate releases into the 
atmosphere.  As a result, harmful chemicals su ch as lead, chromium, arsenic and zinc are 
released in much greater quantity when burning  used oil in space heaters than from burning 
new fuel oil or natural gas. 
 
Superior options for managing used oil, such as used oil re-refining, are readily available 
throughout most of Ontario.  Re-refining used oil into new lubricating oil allows the oil to be used over and over again.  This conser ves our non-renewable petroleum resources, 
reduces greenhouse gas emissions and saves energy  when compared to burning the used oil 
as fuel. 
The ban will add about 7 million litres of used oil to the 150 million litres that is currently 
re-refined at Safety-Kleen, Ontario’s only re -refinery and the second largest re-refinery in 
North America.  The company’s re-refinery  reduces greenhouse gas emissions by almost 
500,000 tonnes annually, the equiva lent of taking 100,000 vehicles off the road each year. 
Re-refining the used oil will decrease the de mand for non-renewable petroleum resources. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Protection of human health and the environment 
8. Relevant documents:   Ontario Ministry of the Environment web site; News Release 
posted: 11 January 2007 
http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/news/2007/011101.htm(English) 
http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/news/2007/011101-fr.htm (French) 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    Not stated 
On the date the measure  is adopted, except for 
facilities that, prior to 11 January 2007 (the date of this proposal pos ting), have received an 
air certificate of approval issued under section 
9 of the Environmental Protection Act 
authorizing the activity.  For facilitates that have received an air certificate of approval prior to 11 January 2007 (the date of the proposal posting), it is proposed the ban not take effect until 1 June 2009. 
10. Final date for comments:   10 February 2007 
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [  X ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:   
The electronic version of the regulatory text can be downloaded at:  
http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envregistry/029109er.htm