March 2016 Spray 27 Expect to see more cross-border and trilateral recalls over the next three years. This poses a challenge for companies with products in multiple markets, as a recall or corrective action in Canada can trigger a response in the U.S. and Mexico as well. E-commerce: “Instituting procedures for sharing information about e-commerce vendors and suppliers whose products may pose a common threat to the safety of North American consumers.” (Source: www.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/advisories-avis/ info-ind/najs-2015-nadc-eng.php) One of the biggest issues faced by our chemical manufacturing clients is resellers selling their products on Amazon or eBay. Often the products will not meet the relevant consumer chemical labeling regulations, either because they are labelled to meet U.S. labeling requirements but not Canada’s, or they are products intended for the workplace that resellers are selling direct to consumers. There has been some enforcement on this issue, but it has been relatively sparse. We do not expect that to continue in the future, so manufacturers need to be vigilant in ensuring their products are not being re-sold in inappropriate channels. December 2015 Health Canada released the results of its Cyclical Enforcement Project: Consumer Chemicals & Containers Regulations, 2001 for fiscal year 2014/15. During the year, Health Canada conducted “seventeen inspections of fifty-one different products… the inspections resulted in six recalls, two stop sales, ten stop distributions, as well as nine trader commitments to apply corrective labels on future shipments. Twenty-four inspected products did not require corrective action.” These inspections are not random, but rather “are chosen because they are deemed by the inspector to be more likely to not meet health and safety requirements due to characteristics that are observed.” During the fiscal year, household cleaning products appear to be a favorite target, including aerosol oven cleaners. The full list of inspected products is available at: www.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/pubs/indust/containers-contenantseng. php. Enforcement does not appear to be slowing down in 2016, with a set of adhesive products recalled. While this is not strictly a regulatory cooperation piece, recalls and corrective actions in Canada can trigger activity in the U.S., so it is important to keep an eye on the types of products Health Canada is inspecting. Regulatory harmonization (or lack thereof) is not an issue that will be going away in 2016. Expect to be hearing more from me on the topic over the next few months. Spray
Spray March 2016
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