WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/Notif.98.373
5 August 1998
(98-3096)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade
NOTIFICATION
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6.
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  CANADA
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):           
2. Agency responsible:  Health Canada
Agency or authority designated to handle comments regarding the notification shall be
indicated if different from above:  National Enquiry Point
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X], 2.10.1 [    ], 5.6.2 [    ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:           
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Controlled products
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Proposed Amendment to
the Controlled Products Regulations (10 pages, English;  10 pages, French)
6. Description of content: The Hazardous Pr oducts Act (HPA), administered by Health
Canada, is the cornerstone of the federal Workplace Hazardous Materials Information
System (WHMIS) legislative framework.  Under Part II of the HPA, suppliers of controlled
products, which include importers, manufacturers and distributors, are required to transmit,in respect of these products, comprehensive Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) that
disclose specific hazard information; and to appropriately label these materials.  The federal
Controlled Products Regulations, under the authority of the HPA, specify the types and
arrangement of information on MSDSs, the form and content of supplier labels, the
conditions for exemption and the hazard criteria that define a controlled product.
The Sectoral Committee recommended that the Controlled Products Regulations be
amended to provide special rules for the labelling of, and small quantity exemptions for
non-radioactive, hazardous carrier materials in radioactive mixtures that will no longer be
excluded from WHMIS simply because of the presence of the radioactive nuclides.
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable:
Protection of human safety
8. Relevant documents:  Health Canada Notice of Prepublication in the Canada Gazette, Part I,
14 July 1998
9. Proposed date of adoption:
Proposed date of entry into force: } Not stated
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10. Final date for comments:  20 October 1998
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [X] or address, e-mail and telefax number of
the other body:           