Bill C-9

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Transboundar y and related environmental effects	46. (1) Where no power, duty or function referred to in section 5 is to be exercised or performed by a federal authority in relation to a project that is to be carried out in a province and the Minister is of the opinion that the project may cause significant adverse environmental effects in another province, the Minister may refer the project to a mediator or a review panel in accordance with section 29 for an assessment of the environmental effects of the project in that other province.
1995, c. 5, par. 25(1)(b)	23. Subsection 47(1) of the Act is replaced by the following:
International environmental effects	47. (1) Where no power, duty or function referred to in section 5 is to be exercised or performed by a federal authority in relation to a project that is to be carried out in Canada or on federal lands and the Minister is of the opinion that the project may cause significant adverse environmental effects occurring both outside Canada and outside those federal lands, the Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs may refer the project to a mediator or a review panel in accordance with section 29 for an assessment of the environmental effects of the project occurring both outside Canada and outside federal lands.
	24. (1) The portion of subsection 48(1) of the Act before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:
Environmenta l effects of projects carried out on lands of federal interest	48. (1) Where no power, duty or function referred to in section 5 is to be exercised or performed by a federal authority in relation to a project that is to be carried out in Canada and the Minister is of the opinion that the project may cause significant adverse environmental effects on
	(2) The portion of subsection 48(2) of the Act before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:
Environmenta l effects of projects carried out on reserve lands, etc.	(2) Where no power, duty or function referred to in section 5 is to be exercised or performed by a federal authority in relation to a project that is to be carried out on
	(3) Subsection 48(5) of the Act is amended by striking out the word ``and'' at the end of paragraph (c) and by adding the following after paragraph (d):
	(e) in respect of lands referred to in paragraph (1)(a) or (2)(a), the council of the band for whose use and benefit the reserve has been set apart;
	(f) in respect of lands referred to in paragraph (1)(c) or (e) or (2)(b), the party to the agreement or claim representing the aboriginal people or that party's successor; and
	(g) in respect of lands that have been set aside for the use and benefit of Indians pursuant to legislation referred to in paragraph (1)(d) or (2)(c), the governing body established by that legislation.
1993, c. 34, s. 37(F)	25. Subsections 54(2) and (3) of the Act are replaced by the following:
International agreement or arrangement	(2) Subject to subsection (3), where a federal authority or the Government of Canada on behalf of a federal authority enters into an agreement or arrangement with any government or any person, organization or institution, whether or not part of or affiliated with a government, under which a federal authority exercises a power or performs a duty or function referred to in paragraph 5(1)(b) or 10.1(2)(b) in relation to projects the essential details of which are not specified and that are to be carried out both outside Canada and outside federal lands, the Government of Canada or the federal authority shall ensure, in so far as is practicable and subject to any other such agreement to which the Government of Canada or federal authority is a party, that the agreement or arrangement provides for the assessment of the environmental effects of those projects and that the assessment will be carried out as early as practicable in the planning stages of those projects, before irrevocable decisions are made, in accordance with
	(a) this Act and the regulations; or
	(b) a process for the assessment of the environmental effects of projects that is consistent with the requirements of this Act and is in effect in the foreign state where the projects are to be carried out.
Exception	(3) Subsection (1) or (2) does not apply in respect of an agreement or arrangement referred to in that subsection where the federal authority will be required to exercise a power or perform a duty or function referred to in paragraph 5(1)(b) or 10.1(2)(b) in relation to the projects in respect of which the agreement or arrangement applies after the essential details of the projects are specified.
1993, c. 34, s. 38(F)	26. Section 55 of the Act and the heading before it are replaced by the following:
	CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT REGISTRY
Establishment and maintenance	55. (1) For the purposes of providing notice in a timely manner of environmental assessments and of facilitating public access to records relating to them, the Agency shall establish and maintain an electronic registry to be called the Canadian Environmental Assessment Registry.
Contents	(2) Subject to subsection (3), the Registry shall contain
	(a) notice of the commencement of an environmental assessment, except where a class screening report is used under subsection 19(5) or (6);
	(b) an agreement contemplated by subsection 12.4(3);
	(c) a statement of the projects in respect of which a class screening report is used under subsection 19(5) or (6);
	(d) any declaration referred to in subsection 19(4) and the report to which it relates or a description of how a copy of the report may be obtained, and any declaration referred to in subsection 19(9);
	(e) notice of termination of an environmental assessment by a responsible authority under section 26;
	(f) notice of termination of an environmental assessment by the Minister under section 27;
	(g) any public notices that are issued by responsible authorities or the Agency to request public input into an environmental assessment;
	(h) notice of a decision of the Minister to refer a project under paragraph 21.1(1)(a);
	(i) the screening or comprehensive study report taken into consideration by a responsible authority for the purpose of a decision under section 20 or 37 or a description of how a copy of the report may be obtained, except where a class screening report is used under subsection 19(5) or (6);
	(j) an environmental assessment decision statement under subsection 23(1) or a request made under subsection 23(2);
	(k) notice of the referral of a project to a mediator or review panel;
	(l) if the Minister has ordered the conclusion of a mediation under subsection 29(4), notice of the order;
	(m) a report of a mediator or review panel or a summary of the report;
	(n) a response under paragraph 37(1.1)(a) by a responsible authority - or under subsection 37(1.2) by a federal authority - to the report of a mediator or review panel;
	(o) a responsible authority's environmental assessment decision made under section 20 or 37, except where a class screening report is used under subsection 19(5) or (6);
	(p) a description summarizing any follow-up program and its results or an indication of how a full description of the program and its results may be obtained;
	(q) any other information that the responsible authority or the Agency, as the case may be, considers appropriate, including information in the form of a list of relevant documents in which case a description of where they may be obtained shall be provided; and
	(r) any other record or information prescribed under paragraph 59(h).
Form and manner of Registry	(3) The Agency may determine
	(a) what the form of the Registry is to be and how it is to be kept;
	(b) how records and information are to be included in it;
	(c) what information must be contained in any record referred to in subsection (2);
	(d) when information must be contained in the Registry and when it may be removed from it; and
	(e) how access to the Registry is to be provided.
Duty to contribute records - Agency	55.1 (1) The Agency shall ensure that the records referred to in paragraphs 55(2)(b), (d), (h) and (j) are included in the Registry.
In the case of mediation or review panel	(2) The Agency shall, in the case of a mediation or an assessment by a review panel, ensure that the records referred to in paragraphs 55(2)(f), (g), (k), (l), (m), (n), (p) and (q), and any record or information referred to in paragraph 55(2)(r), are included in the Registry.
Duty to contribute records - responsible authorities	55.2 (1) A responsible authority shall, in the case of a screening or a comprehensive study, ensure that the records referred to in paragraphs 55(2)(a), (e), (g), (i), (o), (p) and (q), and any record or information referred to in paragraph 55(2)(r), are included in the Registry.
Statement - paragraph 55(2)(c)	(2) A responsible authority shall ensure that the statement referred to in paragraph 55(2)(c) is included in the Registry every three months or with any other frequency to which it agrees with the Agency.
Third party information	55.3 (1) For the purposes of sections 55.1 and 55.2, the Agency or a responsible authority, as the case may be, shall ensure that no information, the disclosure of which would be prohibited under section 20 of the Access to Information Act, is included in the Registry.
Applicability of sections 27, 28 and 44 of Access to Information Act to third party information	(2) Sections 27, 28 and 44 of the Access to Information Act apply to any information described in subsection 27(1) of that Act that the Agency or a responsible authority intends be included in the Registry with any modifications that the circumstances require, including the following :
	(a) the information is deemed to be a record that the head of a government institution intends to disclose; and
	(b) any reference to the person who requested access shall be disregarded.
Protection from civil proceeding or prosecution	55.4 Notwithstanding any other Act of Parliament, no civil or criminal proceedings lie against a responsible authority, the Agency or the Minister, or against any person acting on behalf of them or under their direction, and no proceedings lie against the Crown, the Agency or any responsible authority, for the disclosure in good faith of any record or any part of a record pursuant to this Act or for any consequences that flow from that disclosure or for the failure to give any notice required under section 27 or 28 of the Access to Information Act if reasonable care is taken to give the required notice.
	27. The heading before section 56 of the Act is replaced by the following:
	RELEVANT INFORMATION
	28. The Act is amended by adding the following after section 56:
Information required in support of quality assurance program	56.1 Federal authorities and persons and bodies referred to in sections 8 to 10 shall, if requested to do so by the Agency, provide the Agency with the information respecting the assessments that they conduct under this Act that the Agency considers necessary in support of a quality assurance program that it establishes.
1994, c. 46, s. 4(2)	29. Subsection 58(1.1) of the Act is replaced by the following:
Participant funding	(1.1) For the purposes of this Act, the Minister shall establish a participant funding program to facilitate the participation of the public in comprehensive studies , mediations and assessments by review panels established under either subsection 33(1) or 40(2) .
	30. (1) Section 59 of the Act is amended by adding the following after paragraph (a):
	(a.1) respecting the duties and functions of the federal environmental assessment coordinator, and respecting the selection or designation of the coordinator;
1993, c. 34, s. 40(1)(F)	(2) Paragraph 59(c) of the Act is replaced by the following:
	(c) exempting any projects or classes of projects from the requirement to conduct an assessment under this Act that
	(i) in the opinion of the Governor in Council, ought not to be assessed for reasons of national security,
	(ii) in the case of projects in relation to physical works, in the opinion of the Governor in Council, have insignificant environmental effects, or
	(iii) have a total cost below a prescribed amount and meet prescribed environmental conditions;
	(c.1) exempting, in replacement of exemptions made under paragraph (c), in relation to any corporation referred to in section 8 and designated in the regulations individually or by class or in relation to the Canadian International Development Agency, any projects or classes of projects to be carried out outside Canada and any federal lands from the requirement to conduct an assessment under either section 8 or 10.1 that
	(i) in the opinion of the Governor in Council, ought not to be assessed for reasons of national security,
	(ii) in the case of projects in relation to a physical work, in the opinion of the Governor in Council, have insignificant environmental effects, or
	(iii) have a total cost below a prescribed amount and meet prescribed environmental conditions;
	(3) Paragraph 59(h) of the Act is replaced by the following:
	(h) prescribing records or information to be included in the Registry by the Agency or a responsible authority, and respecting the charging of fees for providing copies of documents contained either in a list of relevant documents contained in the Registry or in the Registry itself;
	(h.1) for the purposes of subsection 38(1) or (2) or 53(1), prescribing the manner of designing a follow-up program;
1993, c. 34, s. 40(2)(F); 1998, c. 10, s. 166	(4) Paragraphs 59(j) to (l) of the Act are replaced by the following:
	(i.1) prescribing, in the case of projects that are to be carried out outside Canada and any federal lands and that are subject to assessment of environmental effects conducted in accordance with section 8, in prescribed circumstances or on any prescribed terms and conditions,
	(i) federal authorities that, notwithstanding subsection 5(1), are not required to conduct environmental assessments of those projects, and
	(ii) federal authorities for whom the requirements under this Act in respect of those projects, other than those set out in subsections 20(1) and 37(1), are deemed to be satisfied by an assessment of the environmental effects of those projects conducted in accordance with section 8;
	(i.2) for the purposes of subparagraph (i.1)(ii), varying subsection 20(1) or 37(1) in its application to federal authorities prescribed under that subparagraph;
	(j) for the purposes of section 8, designating corporations referred to in section 8 individually or by class and respecting the manner in which those corporations or classes of corporations conduct assessments of the environmental effects of, and follow-up programs for, projects, as well as any action to be taken in respect of projects during the assessment process - which manners and actions may vary by corporation or class of corporation - and, for those purposes, respecting the application of the laws from time to time in force in any province;
	(j.1) for the purposes of section 8 and for projects to be carried out outside Canada and any federal lands, prescribing, in relation to any corporation designated in a regulation made under paragraph (j), any physical activity or class of physical activities in replacement of those prescribed under paragraph (b);
	(j.2) prescribing the provisions of any Act of Parliament or any regulation made pursuant to an Act of Parliament that confer powers, duties or functions on a corporation referred to in section 8, the exercise or performance of which requires an assessment of the environmental effects under paragraph 8(1.1)(d);
	(j.3) prescribing the circumstances in which a corporation referred to in section 8 must ensure that an assessment of the environmental effects of a project to be carried out in whole or in part on federal lands is conducted, and specifying the right or interest that it must have in the federal lands, for the purposes of paragraph 8(1.1)(e);
	(k) for the purposes of section 9 , respecting the manner of conducting assessments of the environmental effects of, and follow-up programs for, projects, as well as any action to be taken in respect of projects during the assessment process and, for those purposes, respecting the application of the laws from time to time in force in any province;
	(k.1) prescribing the provisions of any Act of Parliament or any regulation made pursuant to an Act of Parliament that confer powers, duties or functions on a body referred to in subsection 9(1), the exercise or performance of which requires an assessment of environmental effects under paragraph 9(2)(d);
	(k.2) prescribing the circumstances in which an assessment of the environmental effects of a project to be carried out in whole or in part on federal lands must be conducted under paragraph 9(2)(e);

Bill C-9

CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT REGISTRY

RELEVANT INFORMATION