Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (S.C. 1999, c. 33)

92.1 [Repealed, 2023, c. 12, s. 32]

Marginal note:Regulations

• 93 (1) Subject to subsections (3) and (4), the Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Ministers, make regulations with respect to a substance specified on the list of toxic substances in Schedule 1, including regulations providing for, or imposing requirements respecting,

  • (a) the quantity or concentration of the substance that may be released into the environment either alone or in combination with any other substance from any source or type of source;

  • (b) the places or areas where the substance may be released;

  • (c) the commercial, manufacturing or processing activity in the course of which the substance may be released;

  • (d) the manner in which and conditions under which the substance may be released into the environment, either alone or in combination with any other substance;

  • (e) the quantity of the substance that may be manufactured, processed, used, offered for sale or sold in Canada;

  • (f) the purposes for which the substance, a product that contains the substance or a product that may release the substance into the environment may be imported, exported, manufactured, processed, used, offered for sale or sold;

  • (g) the manner in which and conditions under which the substance, a product that contains the substance or a product that may release the substance into the environment may be imported, exported, manufactured, processed or used;

  • (h) the quantities or concentrations in which the substance may be used;

  • (i) the quantities or concentrations of the substance that may be imported or exported;

  • (j) the countries from or to which the substance may be imported or exported;

  • (k) the conditions under which, the manner in which and the purposes for which the substance may be imported or exported;

  • (l) the total, partial or conditional prohibition of the manufacture, use, processing, sale, offering for sale, import or export of the substance, a product that contains the substance or a product that may release the substance into the environment;

  • (m) the total, partial or conditional prohibition of the manufacture, import or export of a product that is intended to contain the substance;

  • (n) the quantity or concentration of the substance that may be contained in any product manufactured, imported, exported, offered for sale or sold in Canada, or that any such product may release into the environment;

  • (o) the manner in which, conditions under which and the purposes for which the substance, a product that contains the substance or a product that may release the substance into the environment may be advertised or offered for sale;

  • (p) the manner in which and conditions under which the substance, a product that contains the substance or a product that may release the substance into the environment may be stored, displayed, handled, transported or offered for transport;

  • (q) the packaging and labelling of the substance, a product that contains the substance or a product that may release the substance into the environment;

  • (r) the manner, conditions, places and method of disposal of the substance, a product that contains the substance or a product that may release the substance into the environment, including standards for the construction, maintenance and inspection of disposal sites;

  • (s) the submission to the Minister, on request or at any prescribed times, of information relating to the substance, a product that contains the substance or a product that may release the substance into the environment;

  • (t) the maintenance of books and records for the administration of any regulation made under this section;

  • (u) the conduct of sampling, analyses, tests, measurements or monitoring of the substance, a product that contains the substance or a product that may release the substance into the environment and the submission of the results to the Minister;

  • (v) the submission of samples to the Minister of the substance, a product that contains the substance or a product that may release the substance into the environment;

  • (w) the conditions, test procedures and laboratory practices to be followed for conducting sampling, analyses, tests, measurements or monitoring of the substance, a product that contains the substance or a product that may release the substance into the environment;

  • (x) the circumstances or conditions under which the Minister may, for the proper administration of this Act, modify

    • (i) any requirement for sampling, analyses, tests, measurements or monitoring, or

    • (ii) the conditions, test procedures and laboratory practices for conducting any required sampling, analyses, tests, measurements or monitoring; and

  • (y) any other matter that by this Part is to be defined or prescribed or that is necessary to carry out the purposes of this Part.

• Definition of sell

  (2) In this section, sell includes, in respect of a substance, the transfer of the physical possession or control of the substance.

• Marginal note:Advice by Committee

  (3) Before a regulation is made under subsection (1), the Minister shall give the Committee an opportunity to advise the Ministers.

• Marginal note:Substances regulated under other Acts of Parliament

  (4) The Governor in Council shall not make a regulation under subsection (1) in respect of a substance if, in the opinion of the Governor in Council, the regulation regulates an aspect of the substance that is regulated by or under any other Act of Parliament in a manner that provides, in the opinion of the Governor in Council, sufficient protection to the environment and human health.

• Marginal note:Powers of Minister

  (5) Regulations made under this section may authorize the Minister, in the circumstances and subject to the conditions and limits that may be specified in the regulations, to issue, amend, suspend and revoke permits and other authorizations in relation to any matter that is the subject of the regulations and to set their terms and conditions.

• Marginal note:Statutory Instruments Act

  (6) A permit or other authorization issued under regulations made under this section is not a statutory instrument as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Statutory Instruments Act.

Marginal note:Interim orders

• 94 (1) The Minister may make an interim order in respect of a substance and the order may contain any provision that may be contained in a regulation made under subsection 93(1) if

  • (a) the substance

    • (i) is not specified on the list of toxic substances in Schedule 1 and the Ministers believe that it is toxic or capable of becoming toxic, or

    • (ii) is specified on that list and the Ministers believe that it is not adequately regulated; and

  • (b) the Ministers believe that immediate action is required to deal with a significant danger to the environment or to human life or health.

• Marginal note:Effect of order

  (2) Subject to subsection (3), an interim order has effect

  • (a) from the time it is made; and

  • (b) as if it were a regulation made under section 93.

• Marginal note:Approval of Governor in Council

  (3) An interim order ceases to have effect unless it is approved by the Governor in Council within 14 days after it is made.

• Marginal note:Consultation

  (4) The Governor in Council shall not approve an interim order unless the Minister has

  • (a) within 24 hours after making the order, offered to consult with all affected governments to determine whether they are prepared to take sufficient action to deal with the significant danger; and

  • (b) consulted with other ministers of the Crown in right of Canada to determine whether any action can be taken under any other Act of Parliament to deal with the significant danger.

• Marginal note:Recommendation of regulations

  (5) Where the Governor in Council approves an interim order, the Ministers shall, within 90 days after the approval, publish in the Canada Gazette a statement indicating whether the Ministers intend to recommend to the Governor in Council

  • (a) that a regulation having the same effect as the order be made under section 93; and

  • (b) if the order was made in respect of a substance that was not specified on the list of toxic substances in Schedule 1, that the substance be added to Part 1 or 2 of that list under section 90.

• Marginal note:Contravention of unpublished order

  (6) No person shall be convicted of an offence consisting of a contravention of an interim order that, at the time of the alleged contravention, had not been published in the Canada Gazette unless it is proved that, at the date of the alleged contravention, that person had been notified of the interim order.

• Marginal note:Cessation of effect

  (7) Subject to subsection (3), an interim order ceases to have effect on the earliest of

  • (a) the day it is repealed,

  • (b) the day a regulation referred to in subsection (5) is made, and

  • (c) two years after the order is made.

Release of Toxic Substances

Marginal note:Report and remedial measures

• 95 (1) If there occurs or is a likelihood of a release into the environment of a substance specified on the list of toxic substances in Schedule 1 in contravention of a regulation made under section 93 or an order made under section 94, any person described in subsection (2) shall, as soon as possible in the circumstances,

  • (a) subject to subsection (4) and any regulations made under paragraph 97(b), notify an enforcement officer or any other person designated pursuant to the regulations and provide a written report on the matter to the enforcement officer or other person;

  • (b) take all reasonable measures consistent with the protection of the environment and public safety to prevent the release or, if it cannot be prevented, to remedy any dangerous condition or reduce or mitigate any danger to the environment or to human life or health that results from the release of the substance or may reasonably be expected to result if the substance is released; and

  • (c) make a reasonable effort to notify any member of the public who may be adversely affected by the release or likely release.

• Marginal note:Application

  (2) Subsection (1) applies to any person who

  • (a) owns or has the charge, management or control of a substance immediately before its release or its likely release into the environment; or

  • (b) causes or contributes to the release or increases the likelihood of the release.

• Marginal note:Report by property owner

  (3) If there occurs a release of a substance as described in subsection (1), any person, other than a person described in subsection (2), whose property is affected by the release and who knows that it is a substance specified on the list of toxic substances in Schedule 1 shall, as soon as possible in the circumstances and subject to subsection (4), report the matter to an enforcement officer or to any person that is designated by regulation.

• Marginal note:Report to provincial official

  (4) Where there are in force, by or under the laws of a province or an aboriginal government, provisions that the Governor in Council, by regulation, declares to be adequate for dealing with a release described in subsection (1), a report required by paragraph (1)(a) or subsection (3) shall be made to a person designated by those provisions.

• Marginal note:Intervention by enforcement officer

  (5) Where any person fails to take any measures required under subsection (1), an enforcement officer may take those measures, cause them to be taken or direct any person referred to in subsection (2) to take them.

• Marginal note:Limitation on power of direction

  (6) A direction of an enforcement officer under subsection (5) that is inconsistent with a requirement imposed by or under any other Act of Parliament is void to the extent of the inconsistency.

• Marginal note:Access to property

  (7) Any enforcement officer or other person authorized or required to take any measures under subsection (1) or (5) may enter and have access to any place or property and may do any reasonable things that may be necessary in the circumstances.

• Marginal note:Personal liability

  (8) Any person, other than a person described in subsection (2), who provides assistance or advice in taking the measures required by subsection (1) or who takes any measures authorized under subsection (5) is not personally liable either civilly or criminally in respect of any act or omission in the course of providing assistance or advice or taking any measures under those subsections unless it is established that the person acted in bad faith.

Marginal note:Voluntary report

• 96 (1) If a person has knowledge of the occurrence or likelihood of a release into the environment of a substance specified on the list of toxic substances in Schedule 1, but the person is not required to report the matter under this Act, the person may report any information relating to the release or likely release to an enforcement officer or to any person to whom a report may be made under section 95.

• Marginal note:Request for confidentiality

  (2) A person making a report under subsection (1) may request that the person’s identity and any information that could reasonably reveal the identity not be released.

• Marginal note:Requirement for confidentiality

  (3) Where a person makes a request under subsection (2), no person shall release or cause to be released the identity of the person making the request or any information that could reasonably be expected to reveal their identity unless the person making the request authorizes the release in writing.

• Marginal note:Employee protection

  (4) Despite any other Act of Parliament, no employer shall dismiss, suspend, demote, discipline, harass or otherwise disadvantage an employee, or deny an employee a benefit of employment, by reason that

  • (a) the employee has made a report under subsection (1);

  • (b) the employee, acting in good faith and on the basis of reasonable belief, has refused or stated an intention of refusing to do anything that is an offence under this Act; or

  • (c) the employee, acting in good faith and on the basis of reasonable belief, has done or stated an intention of doing anything that is required to be done by or under this Act.

Marginal note:Regulations

97 The Governor in Council may make regulations

• (a) designating persons for the purposes of paragraph 95(1)(a) and subsection 95(3) and prescribing the form of the report to be made under those provisions and the information to be contained in it;

• (b) respecting the notification and reporting of a release;

• (c) declaring provisions to be adequate for the purpose of subsection 95(4); and

• (d) generally for carrying out the purposes and provisions of sections 95 and 96.

Marginal note:Recovery of reasonable costs and expenses by Her Majesty

• 98 (1) Her Majesty in right of Canada may recover the costs and expenses of and incidental to taking any measures under subsection 95(5) from

  • (a) any person referred to in paragraph 95(2)(a); and

  • (b) any person referred to in paragraph 95(2)(b) to the extent that that person knowingly or negligently caused or contributed to the release.

• Marginal note:Reasonably incurred

  (2) The costs and expenses referred to in subsection (1) shall only be recovered to the extent that they can be established to have been reasonably incurred in the circumstances.

• Marginal note:Joint and several liability

  (3) Subject to subsection (4), the persons referred to in subsection (1) are jointly and severally liable or solidarily liable for the costs and expenses referred to in that subsection.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (4) A person referred to in paragraph 95(2)(b) shall not be held liable under subsection (3) to an extent greater than the extent to which the person knowingly or negligently caused or contributed to the release.

• Marginal note:Procedure

  (5) A claim under this section may be sued for and recovered by Her Majesty in right of Canada with costs in proceedings brought or taken therefor in the name of Her Majesty in right of Canada in any court of competent jurisdiction.

• Marginal note:Recourse or indemnity

  (6) This section does not limit or restrict any right of recourse or indemnity that a person may have against any other person.

• Marginal note:Limitation period

  (7) Where events giving rise to a claim under this section occur, no proceedings in respect of the claim may be instituted after five years from the date on which the events occur or become evident to the Minister, whichever is later.

• Marginal note:Minister’s certificate

  (8) A document purporting to have been issued by the Minister certifying the day on which the events giving rise to a claim under this section came to the knowledge of the Minister shall be received in evidence and, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, the document shall be considered as proof of that fact without proof of the signature or of the official character of the person appearing to have signed the document and without further proof.