On October 17, 2018 Environment and Climate Change Canada, together with Health Canada, published the Prohibition of Asbestos and Products Containing Asbestos Regulations (the “New Regulations”). These regulations prohibit the import, sale, and use of all forms of asbestos, as well as the manufacture, import, sale, and use of products containing asbestos filaments.
Asbestos is a commercial term used to refer to the fibrous form of a number of minerals. The stated purpose of the New Regulations is to protect the health of Canadians by tightly restricting the entry of new asbestos and asbestos-containing products into the Canadian marketplace. While the federal government initially announced in December 2016 that it would be pursuing a “comprehensive” ban on asbestos, the final regulations include a limited number of exemptions in recognition of the significance of asbestos in some industries, as well as the technical and/or economic infeasibility of immediately eliminating the substance from all products and processes. This new partial ban will enter into force on December 30, 2018.
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