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Bill C-74

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First Reading

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	RECOMMENDATION
	His Excellency the Governor General recommends to the House of Commons the appropriation of public revenue under the circumstances, in the manner and for the purposes set out in a measure entitled ``An Act respecting pollution prevention and the protection of the environment and human health in order to contribute to sustainable development''.
	SUMMARY
	This enactment repeals and replaces the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Among the changes are provisions to implement pollution prevention, new procedures for the investigation and assess ment of substances and new requirements with respect to substances, which the Minister of the Environment and the Minister of Health have determined to be toxic within the meaning of Part V, and provisions regarding live products of biotechnology. The enactment also contains new provisions respecting fuels, international air and water pollution, motor emissions, nutrients whose release into water can cause excessive growth of aquatic vegetation and environmental emergen cies, provisions to regulate the environmental effects of government operations and to protect the environment on and in relation to federal land and aboriginal land, disposal of wastes and other matter at sea, and the export and import of wastes.
	The enactment provides for the gathering of information for research and the creation of inventories of data, which are designed for publication, and for the development and publishing of objectives, guidelines and codes of practice. The enactment also provides new powers for inspectors, investigators and laboratory analysts appointed by the Minister of the Environment to enforce the law. Environmental protection alternative measures and environmental protection com pliance orders provide new mechanisms for the resolution of a contravention. The enactment also specifies criteria for courts to consider on imposing a sentence on an offender.
	In addition, the enactment contains new rights for Canadians who, through written comments or notices of objection to the Minister of the Environment, may participate in decisions on environmental matters, may compel the Minister to investigate an alleged contravention of the Act, and may bring a civil action when the federal government is not enforcing the law. Aboriginal governments are provided the right of representation on the National Advisory Committee to be established under the enactment and, like the provinces and territories, may seek to have their laws declared equivalent to regulations under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1997.
	EXPLANATORY NOTES
	Canada Shipping Act
	Clause 345: Subsection 656(2) reads as follows:
	(2) Notwithstanding any regulation made under subsection (1), a discharge of a pollutant from a ship is permitted if done in accordance with a permit granted under Part VI of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
	Criminal Code
	Clause 346: This amendment changes a section reference.
	Food and Drugs Act
	Clause 347: Paragraph 30(1)(l.1) is new. The relevant portion of subsection 30(1) reads as follows:
	30. (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations for carrying the purposes and provisions of this Act into effect, and, in particular, but without restricting the generality of the foregoing, may make regula tions
	Motor Vehicle Safety Act
	Clause 348: The definitions ``sell'' and ``standard'' in section 2 read as follows:
	``sell'' includes to offer for sale, have in possession for sale and deliver for sale;
	``standard'' means a standard that governs the design, construction, functioning or marking of vehicles or equipment for the purpose of reducing the risk of death, injury or property damage from vehicle use or of limiting emissions from vehicles;
	Clause 349: The relevant portion of subsection 5(1) reads as follows:
	5. (1) No company shall apply a national safety mark to any vehicle or equipment, sell any vehicle or equipment to which a national safety mark has been applied, or import into Canada any vehicle or equipment of a prescribed class unless
	...
	(c) in the case of a vehicle, prescribed information relating to standards for emissions has been obtained and submitted to the Minister in the prescribed manner;
	Clause 350: Section 8 and the heading before it read as follows:
	VEHICLE EMISSIONS
	8. (1) Regulations that prescribe standards in relation to emissions may provide for a system of credits by which
	(a) a company may establish that a vehicle conforms to those standards by applying such credits against emissions of the vehicle in the prescribed manner and within prescribed limits;
	(b) such credits may be obtained by a company in the prescribed manner
	(i) by reference to emissions of a vehicle that more than satisfy the requirements of those standards, or
	(ii) by the payment of an amount to the Receiver General determined at a prescribed rate in relation to emissions of a vehicle; and
	(c) credits obtained by reference to emissions may be transferred to or from a company in the prescribed manner.
	(2) Regulations referred to in subsection (1) may provide that a vehicle shall be deemed to conform to a standard if the application of those regulations to all vehicles of its class sold in Canada and the United States would result in that vehicle so conforming.
	(3) Every company shall submit to the Minister, in the prescribed form and manner and at the prescribed time, a report setting out, with respect to a prescribed period, an account of any emission credits obtained or applied by the company and a description in the prescribed form of each vehicle in relation to which credits were obtained or applied that is
	(a) a vehicle to which the company applied a national safety mark during that period, other than a vehicle that was exported;
	(b) a vehicle bearing a national safety mark that was sold by the company in Canada during that period; or
	(c) a vehicle that was imported by the company during that period for the purpose of sale in Canada.
	(4) Where credits applied pursuant to this section were obtained on the basis of emissions from a vehicle not referred to in paragraph (3)(a), (b) or (c), the report submitted in respect of the application of those credits shall include a description of that vehicle.
	Clause 351: (1) The relevant portion of subsection 9(1) reads as follows:
	9. (1) On application by a company in the prescribed form, supported by prescribed technical and financial information, the Governor in Council may, by order, grant an exemption for a specified period, subject to any conditions specified in the order, for any model of vehicle manufactured or imported by the company from conformity with any prescribed standard applicable to that model where conformity with that standard would, in the opinion of the Governor in Council,
	...
	(b) impede the development of new safety or emission control features that are equivalent to or superior to those that conform to prescribed standards; or
	(2): Subsection 9(3) reads as follows:
	(3) An exemption may not be granted for a model if the exemption would substantially diminish the safe performance of the model or the control of emissions from it or if the company applying for the exemption has not attempted in good faith to bring the model into conformity with all prescribed standards applicable to it.
	Clause 352: Section 21 reads as follows:
	21. (1) At the request of the Minister and subject to payment by the Minister of the cost of transportation and of rental at a prescribed rate based on capital value, a company shall make available for testing
	(a) a vehicle or component that was used in tests conducted by or for the company in order to establish information submitted to the Minister pursuant to paragraph 5(1)(c); or
	(b) a vehicle or component that, for the purpose of such testing, is equivalent to a vehicle or component referred to in paragraph (a).
	(2) The Minister may examine and dismantle a vehicle or component made available under subsection (1) and conduct all necessary tests to verify the accuracy of tests referred to in paragraph (1)(a).
	(3) The Minister may not detain a vehicle or component for more than thirty days after completion of the tests conducted under subsection (2) unless, before that time, proceedings have been instituted in respect of an offence related to the vehicle or component, in which case it may be detained until the proceedings are concluded.