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On June 22, 2022, the Government of Canada published the Single-use Plastics Prohibition Regulations (the "Regulations"), which are made under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 ("CEPA 1999"). The Regulations prohibit the manufacture, import, sale and export of six categories of single-use plastic ("SUP") items, and impose record keeping requirements on manufacturers, exporters and importers of SUPs. The Regulations contain an important departure from the proposed regulations, which were initially published on December 25, 2021. The proposed regulations provided an exemption for the manufacture, import and sale for the purposes of export of the applicable SUP items, however, this exemption was ultimately not included in the Regulations.
The Regulations form part of the Government of Canada's Strategy on Zero Plastic Waste, which follows earlier announcements of its intention to ban SUPs. We provided additional information on this development in the post published here.
The six categories of SUPs that will be banned are:
The Regulations contain certain exemptions with respect to flexible plastic straws. Among other things, these exemptions permit: (a) B2B sales of flexible plastic straws in packages of 20 or more; (b) retail sales of 20 or more plastic straws when the package is not displayed and the customer requests the straws; (c) retail sales of flexible plastic straws that are packaged together with beverages, where the retail location did not package the straw and beverage; and (d) the sale of flexible straws in medical and other care facilities.
The Regulations are made under CEPA 1999, meaning that enforcement will be carried out in accordance with the Compliance and Enforcement Policy for CEPA, 1999 and any contraventions of the Regulations will be subject to the fine regime under the Environmental Enforcement Act (consequential amendments have been made to the Regulations Designating Regulatory Provisions for Purposes of Enforcement (Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999), which require that designated offences involving direct harm, risk of harm to the environment, or obstruction of authority will be subject to increased fines if a person or corporation is convicted for any of these offences). Verification of compliance with the Regulations will include site visits, review of records, reusable product testing (if applicable), and review of written transit documents. Following an inspection or an investigation, if an enforcement officer discovers an alleged violation, the appropriate enforcement action will be chosen based on the factors set out in the Compliance and Enforcement Policy for CEPA, 1999.
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