Federal government passes proposed changes to product liability legislation

This news update on product liability legislation is brought to you by Lexology.

 

 

As previously reported, the 2014 federal budget implementation act, Bill C-31 (the Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1) included a number of components that concern product liability legislation. Bill C-31 received Royal Assent on June 19, 2014.

 

The provisions concerning product liability include amendments to the Hazardous Products Act (Bill C-31, Part 6, Division 3), the Motor Vehicle Safety Act, Railway Safety Act, the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, 1992 and the Safe Food for Canadians Act (Bill C-31, Part 6, Division 15).

 

The changes to the Hazardous Products Act add definitions for “suppliers” and “hazardous products”, expand the categories of substances that may be subject to the Act, and empower the Minister of Health to order testing on products that may be dangerous and to make other orders required to remedy or prevent non-compliance with the Act. The amendments also replace the current product labelling and safety data sheet elements of Canada’s Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) with the UN’s Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). Finally, the changes increase the penalties for non-compliance with the Act.

 

In the course of Senate committee hearings, the Minister of Finance indicated that the proposed changes are intended to align the Canadian labelling requirements for hazardous chemicals with international standards (and specifically US standards) so as to lower costs for manufacturers.

 

 

For more information on product liability legislation please visit the Lexolgoy link above.  Please contact Nexreg for Regulatory Services.