. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/TBT/N/CAN/345 
19 October 2011  
 (11-5196) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English/ 
 French 
 
 
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6 
 
1. Notifying Member:  CANADA  
If applicable, name of local governme nt involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):     
2. Agency responsible:  Department of the Environmen t and 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 :  Canadian Enquiry 
Point, 200-270 Albert Street, Ottawa, Ontari o, Canada, K1P 6N7 Tel.:  +1 613 238 3222, 
Fax.:  +1 613 569 7808, E-mail: mailto:enquirypoint@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):  Toxic substances (ICS: 
13.020) 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Proposed Order Adding 
Toxic Substances to Schedule 1 to the Ca nadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 
(8 pages, available in English and French)  
6. Description of content:  In 2003, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) 
Global Mercury Assessment  Report (2003) concluded that all forms of mercury (which 
includes mercury compounds) are "highly toxic substances" that have caused a variety of 
significant adverse impacts on human health a nd the environment throughout the world. The 
scientific evidence provided by the UNEP report  is sufficient to conclude that mercury 
compounds constitute or may constitute a danger to human health or to the environment as 
per the criteria set out under section 64 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 
(CEPA 1999).  
The objective of the proposed Order Adding Toxic Substances to Schedule 1 to the Canadian 
Environmental Protection Act, 1999  (hereinafter referred to as the proposed Order) is to add 
mercury compounds to the List of Toxic Substances, Schedule 1 to CEPA 1999. The 
proposed Order made under subsection 90(1) of  CEPA 1999 would amend Item 8 of the list 
which currently references "mercury" to read " mercury and its compounds."  This addition 
would allow Ministers to develop other proposed  regulations or instruments to manage the 
risks posed by these substances under CEPA 1999.  The Ministers may also choose to develop 
non-regulatory instruments to manage these risks.  
Note: One of these proposed risk manageme nt instruments was pre-published in the Canada  
Gazette,  Part I, in February 2011. The proposed Regulations Respecting Products Containing G/TBT/N/CAN/345 
Page 2  
 
  Certain Substances Listed in Schedule 1 to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999  
would restrict the import, sale and manufacture of products th at contain mercury and mercury 
compounds (G/TBT /N/CAN/333). 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Protection of human health and the environment  
8. Relevant documents:   Canada Gazette, Part I , 1 October 2011, Pages 3090-3097 (available 
in English and French)   
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    Normally within 5 to 8 months of publication in 
the Canada Gazette , Part I. 
On the date the measure is adopted. 
10. Final date for comments:  30 November 2011 
11. Text available from:  National enquiry point [X], or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addres ses, if available of the other body:   The electronic 
version of the regulatory text can be downloaded at:    
http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/ p1/2011/2011-10-01/pdf/g1-14540.pdf#page= 34 ( Canada 
Gazette ) 
or  http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/ p1/2011/2011-10-01/html/reg1-eng.html  (English)  
http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/ p1/2011/2011-10-01/html/reg1-fra.html  (French)