After the coming into force on December 30, 2010 of the Regulation amending the Regulation respecting mandatory reporting of certain emissions of contaminants into the atmosphere, a new draft regulation was published October 5, 2011 (English version/ French version), proposing additional amendments intended to harmonize the regulation with requirements of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), in order to allow a good functioning of the greenhouse gas (GHG) cap and trade system.
The draft regulation proposes emissions calculation methods for twelve industry sectors, being nickel and copper production, ferroalloy production, magnesium production, nitric acid production, phosphoric acid production, ammonia production, electricity transmission and distribution and use of equipment to produce electricity, carbonates use, glass production, mobile equipment, electronics manufacturing, and natural gas transmission and distribution.
Amendments are also proposed to calculation methods applicable to many other industry sectors in order to harmonize them with WCI requirements introduced in 2010, and a section on the estimation of missing data is added to all calculation methods.
Many articles are modified to clarify the scope of the regulation, applying reporting thresholds by establishment rather than enterprise, except for certain enterprises in the energy sector, which are considered as establishments under the proposed changes. In addition, the number of years during which the emissions of an establishment must be below the reporting threshold to exempt it from reporting is proposed to be increased from 3 to 4 consecutive years.
Pursuant to the draft regulation, filing of the verification report will be required at the same time as the emissions report, on June 1st, whereas the current regulation allows the verification report to be filed three months after the emissions report, on September 1st. Furthermore, in addition to the current requirement for the verifying organization to be ISO 14065 accredited, the verification will have to comply with an ISO 17011 program.
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