Regulations Amending the Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Regulations Respecting the Pest Control Products Act and Regulations (Incident Reporting): SOR/2019-161

Canada Gazette, Part II, Volume 153, Number 12

Registration

SOR/2019-161 May 30, 2019

AGRICULTURE AND AGRI-FOOD ADMINISTRATIVE MONETARY PENALTIES ACT

The Minister of Health, pursuant to subsection 4(1) footnote a of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Act footnote b, makes the annexed Regulations Amending the Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Regulations Respecting the Pest Control Products Act and Regulations (Incident Reporting).

Ottawa, May 22, 2019

Ginette Petitpas Taylor
Minister of Health

Regulations Amending the Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Regulations Respecting the Pest Control Products Act and Regulations (Incident Reporting)

Amendments

1 Paragraph 2(d) of the French version of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Regulations Respecting the Pest Control Products Act and Regulations footnote 1 is replaced by the following:

2 The heading of Part 4 of Schedule 1 to the French version of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

Règlement sur les rapports d’incident relatif aux produits antiparasitaires (DORS/2006-260)

3 The heading of column 1 of Part 4 of Schedule 1 to the French version of the Regulations is replaced by “Disposition du Règlement sur les rapports d’incident relatif aux produits antiparasitaires”.

4 The portion of items 1 to 6 of Part 4 of Schedule 1 to the Regulations in column 2 is replaced by the following:

Item

Column 2

Short-form Description*

1

Fail to provide an incident report in English or French

2

Fail to provide a summary of the study, in English or French, at the prescribed time

3

Fail to provide the specified information about an incident that occurs in Canada and that corresponds to any of the specified categories

4

Fail to provide the specified information about an incident that occurs in the United States and that corresponds to any of the specified categories

5

Fail to provide the specified information about an incident whose effects are identified in a scientific study

6

Fail to provide an incident report within 15 days after receipt of information about any incident that corresponds to any of the specified categories

5 Items 7 to 12 of Part 4 of Schedule 1 to the Regulations are replaced by the following:

Item

Column 1

Provision of the Pest Control Products Incident Reporting Regulations

Column 2


Short-form Description*

Column 3


Classification

7

11

Fail to provide an incident report within 30 days after receipt of information about any incident whose effects are identified in a scientific study

Very serious

7.1

11.1

Fail to provide an incident report within 90 days after receipt of information about any incident that occurs in Canada and whose effect is an animal death

Very serious

8

12

Fail to provide, by the time limits specified, any incident report about any incident that corresponds to any of the specified categories

Serious

9.1

13.1

Fail to provide, for the transitional period, any incident report required about any incident that corresponds to any of the categories referred to in the provision

Serious

11

15(1)

Fail to provide an annual summary in respect of an active ingredient referred to in the provision

Minor

12

15(2)

Fail to provide the specified information in an annual summary

Minor

12.1

15(3)

Fail to provide an annual summary by March 31 of the year that follows the year during which information was received about the incidents referred to in the provision

Serious

12.2

15.1(1)

Fail to provide, for the transitional period, an annual summary in respect of an active ingredient referred to in the provision

Minor

12.3

15.1(2)

Fail to provide, for the transitional period, the information referred to in the provision in an annual summary

Minor

12.4

15.1(3)

Fail to provide, for the transitional period, an annual summary by March 31, 2022

Serious

Transitional Provision

6 (1) For the purposes of this section, former Regulations means the Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Regulations Respecting the Pest Control Products Act and Regulations as they read immediately before the day on which these Regulations come into force.

(2) Items 3 to 12 of Part 4 of Schedule 1 to the former Regulations continue to apply, as the case may be, in respect of contraventions of sections 7 to 10, subsection 11(1), sections 12 and 13 and subsections 14(1), 15(1) and 15(2) of the Pest Control Products Incident Reporting Regulations, as they read immediately before the day on which these Regulations come into force, if such a contravention occurs before that day.

Coming into Force

7 These Regulations come into force on January 1, 2022.

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)

Issues

The Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Regulations Respecting the Pest Control Products Act and Regulations (AMPs Regulations) do not correctly reference the amended provisions of the Pest Control Products Incident Reporting Regulations (IRR).

Background

The AMPs Regulations were first established in 2001, and were updated in 2010 to include contraventions of the IRR. These Regulations serve as an enforcement tool to address non-compliance with the Pest Control Products Act (PCPA) and its regulations. Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) administers the PCPA and its regulations, including the IRR.

The administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) regime can address a variety of compliance issues. These issues range from the relatively minor, such as incorrectly filling out paperwork, to the more severe, such as the misuse of a pest control product.

Health Canada maintains information online regarding the Incident Reporting Program.

Without affecting the long-term outcome of improving health and environmental protection, the IRR were recently amended to

Provisions of the AMPs Regulations have been amended, and sections have been added or revised, to align with the amended provisions of the IRR. The amendments to the AMPs Regulations do not add any violations that did not previously exist.

Objectives

The amendments will align the AMPs Regulations with the amended IRR, and allow for the continued use of AMPs as a component of enforcement response for those amended requirements.

Description

To meet the objectives of this proposal, the amendments will make the following changes to Part 4 of Schedule 1 of the AMPs Regulations:

Align short-form descriptions with new wording in the Pest Control Products Incident Reporting Regulations and current wording in the PCPA

The amendments to the IRR standardize the wording for what a registrant or applicant does with incident reports to align with the PCPA. For example, reports are now “provided” instead of being “filed” in the previous version. Similarly, in French, the verb “fournir” is now used instead of “présenter” or “déclarer.” As a result, the short-form descriptions that use “file” in English, or “présenter” or “déclarer” in French, must be reworded to use “provide” in English, or “fournir” in French. As well, the phrase “complete and accurate” must be removed from the short-form descriptions, since it has been removed from the IRR.

Change the provision that corresponds to a failure to provide incident reports regarding scientific studies

The amended IRR move the requirement to provide incident reports regarding scientific studies within the prescribed time frame from subsection 11(1) to section 11. As a result, the corresponding violation in the AMPs Regulations must refer to section 11 instead of subsection 11(1).

Add violations of the new section 11.1 of the Pest Control Products Incident Reporting Regulations

Incident reporting requirements involving the death of an animal — paragraph 10(c), paragraphs 11(1)(c) and (d), and paragraph 13(d) — are being consolidated from the previous IRR into a new section 11.1. This necessitates the addition of a new Item to Part 4 that consolidates all violations in one place.

Remove violation corresponding to 12-month accumulated incident reports

The amended IRR no longer require any incident reports to be accumulated over a 12-month period. As a result, the corresponding AMPs violation (Item 9) must be repealed.

Change the provision that corresponds to a failure to submit annual summary reports

The amended IRR move the requirement to submit annual summary reports within a prescribed time frame from subsection 14(1) to a new subsection 15(3). As a result, the corresponding violation in the AMPs Regulations must refer to subsection 15(3) instead of 14(1).

Change the title of the Pest Control Products Incident Reporting Regulations in the French version

The amended IRR changes the title of the Regulations in French from Règlement sur les déclarations d’incident relatif aux produits antiparasitaires to Règlement sur les rapports d’incident relatif aux produits antiparasitaires. The header of Part 4 of the AMPs Regulations must therefore be changed to reflect this.

Add provisions to preserve enforcement capabilities during the transition period

The amended IRR consolidates or removes many provisions, which can lead to challenges if administrative monetary penalties are warranted for violations that occurred when the previous IRR were in force. To alleviate these challenges, transitional provisions have been added to the amended IRR to preserve the ability to issue administrative monetary penalties for violations that occurred when the previous IRR were in force. This necessitates the addition of corresponding penalties to the AMPs Regulations.

“One-for-One” Rule

The “One-for-One” Rule does not apply to this proposal, as regulations that amend fines and penalties do not impose administrative burden costs on regulated parties.

Small business lens

The small business lens does not apply to this proposal, as no costs are expected.

Consultation

Since the amendments are consequential in nature, do not impact the intent of the AMPs Regulations, and do not have any impact on stakeholders, it was deemed that public consultation was not required. However, industry stakeholders were notified that amendments to the AMPs Regulations would be made to align them with the amended IRR.

Rationale

It was necessary to amend the AMPs Regulations to allow for the continued use of AMPs as a component of enforcement response for the amended provisions.

Implementation, enforcement and service standards

The amendments will come into force at the same time that the amendments to the IRR come into force: January 1, 2022.

Health Canada encourages, promotes, maintains and enforces compliance with the PCPA through active prevention, inspections (including surveillance) and enforcement response actions. Active prevention aims to educate, facilitate and promote compliance as well as to communicate regulatory information. Inspections are designed to determine the level of compliance of users, distributors and registrants of pesticides with the general provisions of the PCPA and PCPR, as well as specific terms and conditions of registration.

Enforcement response may include

Compliance with the PCPA and its regulations is achieved through a network of officers and inspectors across Canada. Health Canada regional offices also have formal agreements with provincial pesticide regulatory departments, providing a basis to collaborate with them in inspections and in the development and delivery of compliance activities.

Health Canada follows an established compliance policy to promote and enhance fair treatment of the regulated community.

Contact

Please direct all questions and inquiries to

Brenda Tang
Policy, Communications and Regulatory Affairs Directorate
Pest Management Regulatory Agency
Health Canada
2720 Riverside Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0K9
Email: hc.pmra.regulatory.affairs-affaires.reglementaires.arla.sc@canada.ca