The Canada Consumer Products Safety Act (CCPSA) sets higher standards for the safety of consumer products and gives the federal government more power to monitor and respond to safety incidents is now law, and has a significant impact on the Canadian electrical and electronics industries.
CCPSA is designed to better protect the health and safety of Canadians by increasing the obligations of industry when it comes to reporting incidents that adversely affect human health, maintaining records and sharing them with the government, labeling products accurately, and avoiding manufacturing, importing, selling or advertising specific products that carry safety risks. The Act gives the government greater authority when it comes to taking corrective action, such as issuing product recalls or stop-production orders, to address safety incidents.
A key element of the Act is that industry must report any occurrences, defects or inadequate labels or instructions related to one of their consumer products that resulted, or could reasonably be expected to result in death or serious adverse health effects. As well, companies have to alert the government of any product recalls or other corrective measures it has taken for human health or safety reasons.
EFC is part of the Canadian Consumer Product Safety Coalition (CCPSC), a group of 12 national business associations that supports CCPSA’s principles of active prevention, targeted oversight and rapid response, and is lobbying the federal government to ensure it sufficiently considers industry’s interests and abilities to comply.
