Here's what's new with the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act...
- Increased Transparency in New Summary Reports: As part of Health Canada's stated ongoing commitment to transparency, it has announced that it will be publishing the following summary reports on its website going forward: Consumer Product Enforcement Safety Reports These reports will provide information on products that Health Canada has inspected. They will identify which did and (more significantly) which did not meet applicable safety standards. These reports will identify the brand, product name and the responsible establishment, the nature of the non-compliance as well as any corrective action taken. Health Canada has advised that its inspections will focus mostly on children's products and product categories with a high history of non-compliance. Quarterly Consumer Product Safety Incident Summary Reports These reports will provide statistical information about the incident reports received by Health Canada over the previous quarter. It is important to note that these reports will not identify any specific products, brands or companies. For Q2 2014, Health Canada reports that 432 incident reports were filed, 171 of which included an injury. The largest percentage of reports received related to housewares (33%), followed by appliances (15%) and children's products (12%).
- Insight into Health Canada's Risk Assessment
Processes: in December, Health Canada published its Risk
Assessment Framework outlining the manner in which it triages,
prioritizes and manages reports. This process includes, among other
things:
- Analysis of whether the report is properly made under the CCPSA;
- Analysis of whether (on a preliminary basis) it appears from the report that a more thorough risk assessment is required;
- Identification and characterization of the hazard;
- Estimation of the probability and severity of exposure to the hazard; and
- Integration of the risk assessment information to characterize the risk and determine risk management options, if appropriate.
- Do You Know Where Your Children Are (Sleeping)?: Health Canada has released a guidance on the classification of cribs, cradles, bassinets and related products. Click here for details.
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