WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/CAN/182 
23 November 2006 
 (06-5661) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English/ 
 French 
 
 
 
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:   Department of Health 
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 E-mail: 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):   Asbestos  Products  (ICS: 
13.040, 73.080) 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Proposed Asbestos 
Products Regulations (9 pages available in English and French) 
6. Description of content:    
The purpose of this regulatory initiative is to make the regulatory requirements for asbestos and asbestos products more user-friendly under the Hazardous Products Act  (HPA). This is 
to be accomplished by consolidating the fi ve separate Schedule I Items under the HPA 
concerning asbestos and asbestos products into one regulation. There are no changes proposed to the context of the current Items.  
Background 
The HPA prohibits or restricts the advertisemen t, sale or importation of products which are, 
or are likely to be, a danger to the health or safety of the public. Under the authority of the HPA, various requirements were introduced to  reduce the risk of asbestos exposure from 
consumer products containing asbestos. Curren tly, these requirements are separated into 
five Items of Schedule I to the HPA: G/TBT/N/CAN/182 
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  • Item 16 of Part I: Asbestos in textile fibre products; 
• Item 28 of Part I: Asbestos in products  for use by a child; products for use in 
modelling or sculpture; products for use in construction, repair s or renovations; and 
products for use in simulating ashes or embers; 
• Item 37 of Part I: Products that are composed of asbestos fibres; 
• Item 40 of Part I: Asbestos products that are destined for application by spraying; 
and 
• Item 44 of Part II: Products that are composed of or contain crocidolite asbestos 
fibres.  
 Each of these Items currently serves independent ly to protect the Canadian public in the 
following manner: 
• They prevent the exposure of consumers to products containing or consisting 
entirely of asbestos that can readily shed loose fibres which can be inhaled and cause health effects.  
• They prescribe strict labelling requirement s and restrict the conditions under which 
crocidolite asbestos or products containing crocidolite asbestos may be advertised, 
sold or imported. Crocidolite is a fibrous amphibole mineral also known as blue asbestos. These requirements and restrictions are currently stipulated in the Hazardous Products (Crocido lite Asbestos) Regulations .  
• They enable the passing into law of th e 1986 International Labour Organization 
Convention 162 guidelines rega rding the safe use of asbestos in the workplace, and 
the ratification of international compliance of these guidelines.  
 Historically, the asbestos-related Items were in troduced individually in response to specific 
hazards to the Canadian public identified ove r a span of 30 years. Unfortunately, this 
scattered approach by which individual require ments have been enacted over the years has 
lead to difficulties in facilitating industry compliance, as well as making Health Canada's 
enforcement requirements far more labour-intensive than is necessary.  This regulatory amendment is therefore su bmitted to alleviate these difficulties, in 
accordance with Health Canada's commitment to 
• protect the Canadian public against risk factors over which they have little control;  
• reduce the exposure of the Canadian public to asbestos from consumer products; 
and  
• assist industry regulatory compliance in accordance with its "safe-use" principle 
with regards to asbestos, as outlined in the Minerals and Metals Policy of the 
Government of Canada (1996).  
 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Protection of human health. 
8. Relevant documents:   Canada Gazette, Part I, 11 November 2006, Pages 3648-3656 
(Available in English and French) 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:   } Not stated 
10. Final date for comments:   25 January 2007 G/TBT/N/CAN/182 
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  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 regulator y text can be downloaded at:   
http://canadagazette.gc.ca/partI/2006/20061111/pdf/g1-14045.pdf