. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/CAN/264 
28 May 2009  
 (09-2562) 
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 governme nt involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):     
2. Agency responsible:  Department of Transport  
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: enquirypoint@scc.ca 
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [ X ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [ X ], 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):  Small Vessels 
(ICS : 47.040) 
5. Title, number of pages and langu age(s) of the notified document:  Proposed Small Vessel 
Regulations (76 pages,  available in English and French)     
6. Description of content:  The existing Small Vessel Regulations are the primary regulatory 
mechanism by which Transport Canada (TC) manages the safety equipment and construction requirements for small vessels in Canada. The Regulations al so provide the regulatory 
framework for the Pleasure Craft Licensi ng System and contain certain operational 
requirements for small vessel safety. TC regulat es the construction and operational procedures 
on small vessels in order to reduce the likelihood of accidents and incide nts and regulates the 
carriage of safety equipment and pleasure craft licensing to make incidents more survivable when they do occur. Operator competency and proficiency are also essential in preventing accidents and incidents, but these issues are managed thr ough other regulations made under 
the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 (CSA 2001).  
With the coming into force of  the CSA 2001 in July 2007, it b ecame necessary to  review and 
reform the Regulations to make them consistent with the new legislation, and to modernize 
the Regulations to address changes in the industry  to better reflect the reality of the Canadian 
fleet of small vessels and to  harmonize, where possible, w ith international standards. 
The proposed Regulations, to be made under th e new CSA 2001, are intended to completely 
replace the existing Regulations made under the former CSA. The proposed Regulations 
would apply to pleasure craft a nd human-powered vessels of a ll sizes and small non-pleasure 
vessels of 15 gross tonnage or less that  do not carry more than 12 passengers. G/TBT/N/CAN/264 
Page 2  
 
  The proposed Regulations provide a number of al ternatives (including re ferences to United 
States and European standards) for the constr uction and stability of small vessels that were 
not previously permitted. The pr oposed Regulations also specify processes for certification of 
small vessel construction that are consistent wi th the United States a nd Europe. Consequently, 
it will be easier to build and certify small ve ssels for both domestic and foreign sales. 
The proposed Regulations have been updated in order to: 
• Better reflect the nature of th e small vessel fleet in Canada;  
• Ensure consistency with international stan dards respecting lifesaving equipment, vessel 
construction and compliance notic es (otherwise known as Capac ity or Conformity Labels); 
• Incorporate new requirements to enhance safety, especially operational requirements on 
small vessels that are not pleasure craft; 
• Provide alternatives for the construction and stability of small vessels.  
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Protection of human safety  
8. Relevant documents:   Canada Gazette, Part I, 25 Ap ril 2009, Pages 1249-1324 (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. These Regulations come into force on the day on which they are adopted. 
10. Final date for comments:  24 June 2009 
11. Text available from: National enquiry po int [ 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 regulat ory text can be downloaded at:  
http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-p r/p1/2009/2009-04-25/pdf/g1-14317.pdf  (Canada Gazette)    
or  
http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/ 2009/2009-04-25/html/reg1-eng.html  (English) 
http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/ 2009/2009-04-25/html/reg1-fra.html   (French)