Retailers operating in Canada will soon face significant new
obligations under the new Canada Consumer Product Safety
Act. The federal government has just announced that this
wide-ranging legislation, enacted in December 2010, will come into
force as of June 20, 2011. In order to ensure compliance, retailers
need to start developing and implementing appropriate procedures as
soon as possible.
The CCPSA brings Canada's consumer product safety regime more
into line with that in the United States. While a number of key
regulations are still to be published, the legislation:
- prohibits the manufacturing, importing, advertising or sale of consumer products that pose an unreasonable danger to human health and safety;
- prohibits anyone from packaging or labelling a consumer product in a manner that could reasonably be expected to create an erroneous impression that it is not a danger to human health or safety;
- sets out specific requirements relating to document retention and the reporting of incidents and test results;
- empowers Health Canada to order remedial measures, including recalls, and to conduct inspections; and
- establishes increased fines and penalties, including administrative monetary penalties.
Under the legislation, consumer products are broadly defined to
include any product that could reasonably be expected to be
obtained by an individual for non-commercial purposes, including
components, parts, accessories and packaging. The phrase
"danger to human health and safety" is also broadly
defined to include any unreasonable existing or potential hazard
posed by a consumer product during or as a result of normal or
foreseeable use and that may reasonably be expected to cause death
or injury or have an adverse effect on health, whether immediate or
chronic.
The penalties for non-compliance with the CCPSA can in some cases
be severe, including fines in the millions of dollars and jail
time.
Retailers will find themselves on the front line in dealing with
this legislation. Here are some of the details of what they need to
be ready to deal with:
"Incident" reporting
The CCPSA requires sellers to report to Health Canada any
incidents involving consumer products. "Incident" is
defined to include any occurrence anywhere (not just in Canada), a
defect or characteristic, or an incorrect, insufficient or missing
label or instructions, any of which resulted (or may reasonably
have been expected to result in) death, serious injury or a serious
adverse effect on someone's health. In addition, a recall or
any other measure instituted for human health or safety reasons by
a foreign entity or a provincial government is considered to be an
incident.
Once a seller, importer or manufacturer learns of an incident, it
has two days to provide a report to Health Canada that contains all
the information about the incident within their control. This
report must also be provided to the party from which a seller or
importer obtained the product. Importers and manufacturers must
also provide Health Canada with a report within 10 days of the
incident containing information about the incident and the product
involved, and identifying other products that they import or
manufacture that could be involved in a similar incident, as well
as any measures they propose to take with respect to those
products. Health Canada has published a draft incident reporting
form.
The proposed Regulation makes it clear that knowledge of an
incident must reach a "responsible person" within the
organization before the clock starts running on the obligation to
report to Health Canada. A responsible person is considered to be a
directing mind. Who is considered a directing mind - and it may be
more than one person in an organization - will depend on the size
and nature of the organization, its decision-making structure and
the nature of the information available. Knowledge of an incident
could come from a number of sources, including not only consumers
but also government agencies, a supplier or a lab reporting test
results. In any event, it will be crucially important to
ensure that front-line retail staff take in information from
consumers regarding any incidents and pass that information along
to supervisors who can inform the organization's responsible
person.
Document retention and disclosure
Retailers must now maintain records of names and addresses of
persons from whom they obtained a consumer product, as well as the
location where they sold the product and when. These records will
have to be kept until the end of the sixth year after the end of
the year to which they relate, at their place of business in Canada
(unless the Minister exempts them from doing so on the basis that
it would be unnecessary or impractical to keep the documents in
Canada). These documents must be provided to the Minister upon
request.
Inspections and Orders for remedial measures, including recalls
To verify compliance with the CCPSA, Health Canada inspectors
will have the power to enter, at any reasonable time, any place (or
vehicle) in which they have reasonable grounds to believe that a
consumer product is manufactured, imported, packaged, stored,
advertised, sold, labelled, tested or transported. Among other
things, an inspector will be able to examine or test anything, take
samples, seize articles, search computers, copy documents and stop
the activity in question. Persons in charge of the premises are
required to provide inspectors with reasonable assistance and with
any information that they reasonably require.
If the Minister of Health believes on reasonable grounds that a
consumer product is a danger to human health or safety, the
Minister can order a manufacturer, importer or seller to recall it.
This is a major change in the consumer product safety regime in
Canada as until now, it was only possible for Health Canada to
request recalls be undertaken voluntarily.
The Minister also has the authority to stop the manufacturing,
importing, packaging, storing, advertising, selling, labelling,
testing or transporting of the product, or to take any measure that
the Minister considers necessary to remedy non-compliance with the
Act or Regulations.
If a party fails to comply with a Minister's Order, then the
Minister can carry out the recall or other remedial measure at the
party's expense.
Consumer products not covered by the CCPSA
Many types of consumer products are not subject to the CCPSA because they are dealt with under other federal Acts. These include cosmetics, food, pest control products, fertilizers, motor vehicles, firearms, ammunition, plants and seeds.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.