Canada Gazette, Part I, Volume 148, Number 10: Cigarette Ignition Propensity (Consumer Products) Regulations

March 8, 2014

Statutory authority

Canada Consumer Product Safety Act

Sponsoring department

Department of Health

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the regulations.)

Issues

This Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement (RIAS) addresses three regulatory initiatives:

(1) Regulations Repealing the Cigarette Ignition Propensity Regulations made under the Tobacco Act and making of the proposed Cigarette Ignition Propensity (Consumer Products) Regulations under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act

On reviewing the Cigarette Ignition Propensity Regulations made under the Tobacco Act in June 2005, the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations (SJCSR) considered that the Hazardous Products Act was a more suitable authority under which to mandate ignition propensity standards for cigarettes. This authority is now found in the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, which repealed and replaced Part I and Schedule I of the Hazardous Products Act.

This regulatory initiative proposes to make the Cigarette Ignition Propensity (Consumer Products) Regulations under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act. The Cigarette Ignition Propensity (Consumer Products) Regulations would replace the Cigarette Ignition Propensity Regulations under the Tobacco Act (which would be repealed after these new Regulations are made).

(2) Regulations Amending the Tobacco (Seizure and Restoration) Regulations made under the Tobacco Act

The Tobacco (Seizure and Restoration) Regulations came into force in February 1999. These Regulations refer to a branch within the Department of Health which no longer exists due to organizational changes. The proposal would rectify this obsolete reference in the Regulations.

(3) Regulations Amending the Tobacco Products Information Regulations (Miscellaneous Program) made under the Tobacco Act

When reviewing amendments made in 2011 to the Tobacco Products Information Regulations, the SJCSR found a discrepancy in the language used to describe the placement of toxic emission and constituent information on packages of cigarette tobacco, kreteks, leaf tobacco, tobacco sticks and smokeless tobacco. The proposed Regulations address a discrepancy between the French and English versions of paragraph 11(b) of the Regulations.

Objectives

(1) Regulations Repealing the Cigarette Ignition Propensity Regulations made under the Tobacco Act and making of the proposed Cigarette Ignition Propensity (Consumer Products) Regulations under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act

The objective of repealing the Cigarette Ignition Propensity Regulations made under the Tobacco Act and making the proposed Cigarette Ignition Propensity (Consumer Products) Regulations under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act is to address the recommendation of the SJCSR, while maintaining the ignition propensity performance standard that is currently in place for cigarettes.

(2) Regulations Amending the Tobacco (Seizure and Restoration) Regulations made under the Tobacco Act

The proposed Regulations would update the Tobacco (Seizure and Restoration) Regulations to reflect the current organizational structure within the Department of Health. They would amend section 3 of the Tobacco (Seizure and Restoration) Regulations to remove reference to the “regional manager of the Health Protection Branch,” a position which no longer exists.

(3) Regulations Amending the Tobacco Products Information Regulations (Miscellaneous Program) made under the Tobacco Act

The proposed Regulations would address a concern of the SJCSR regarding a language discrepancy between the French and English versions of the Tobacco Products Information Regulations, while maintaining the requirements currently in place.

Description

(1) Regulations Repealing the Cigarette Ignition Propensity Regulations made under the Tobacco Act and making of the proposed Cigarette Ignition Propensity (Consumer Products) Regulations under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act

The proposed Regulations to be made under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act would continue to set out the ignition propensity performance standard that cigarettes must meet as is currently prescribed by the Cigarette Ignition Propensity Regulations under the Tobacco Act, and the method to be used in testing cigarettes for their ignition propensity. While the performance standard would remain unchanged, the referenced test method would be updated with an internationally recognized method that is available in both official languages. The proposed Cigarette Ignition Propensity (Consumer Products) Regulations would require that cigarettes burn their full length no more than 25% of the time, when tested on 10 layers of filter paper using standard ISO 12863 entitled Standard test method for assessing the ignition propensity of cigarettes. This method closely aligns with the ASTM International Method E2187 — 04 currently referenced in the Cigarette Ignition Propensity Regulations.

Once the Cigarette Ignition Propensity (Consumer Products) Regulations have been made, the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act would expressly prohibit the manufacture (including for the purpose of export), the import (including for personal use), the sale (including distribution) and the advertisement of cigarettes in Canada that do not meet the prescribed cigarette ignition propensity standard. However, these Regulations would not apply to cigarettes that are imported by an organization for the purposes of research, laboratory testing or analysis.

The impact of the making of these Regulations under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act would be negligible for the tobacco industry. Given that the performance standard would remain unchanged, cigarette manufacturers would not be required to make changes to currently marketed cigarettes in order to be compliant with the proposed Cigarette Ignition Propensity (Consumer Products) Regulations.

The impact of this new legislative framework with respect to the ignition propensity of cigarettes would be very low on the Department of Health, as there would be little change to compliance monitoring activities under these Regulations.

(2) Regulations Amending the Tobacco (Seizure and Restoration) Regulations made under the Tobacco Act

The Tobacco (Seizure and Restoration) Regulations set out the requirements for the seizure of a tobacco product or other thing (e.g. material such as a sign or match book) seized pursuant to subsection 39(1) of the Act, and for the application for restoration of the seized tobacco product or other thing. The Regulations require that applications for restoration of seized products be made to a provincial court judge. A notice containing prescribed information must also be served on either the Minister or on the regional manager of the Health Protection Branch at the Department of Health.

In order to remove an outdated reference, the proposed Regulations Amending the Tobacco (Seizure and Restoration) Regulations would eliminate the option to serve a notice on the regional manager of the Health Protection Branch; instead, a notice would be served to the Minister only. This change reflects organizational changes within the Department of Health, as the reference to the Health Protection Branch is obsolete. Section 3 of the Regulations would be changed to stipulate that a notice referred to in subsection 40(1) of the Tobacco Act shall be served by registered mail on the Minister at least 15 clear days (i.e. the number of days between and not including the date on which the notice is served on the Minister and the date on which the order of restoration is made) before the day on which the application for an order of restoration is to be made to a provincial court judge.

(3) Regulations Amending the Tobacco Products Information Regulations (Miscellaneous Program) made under the Tobacco Act

The proposed amendment would address a discrepancy between the French and English versions of paragraph 11(b) of the Tobacco Products Information Regulations by changing the word “area” in the English version to “surface.”

“One-for-One” Rule

The “One-for-One” Rule does not apply to these proposals as there is no change in administrative costs to business.

Small business lens

The small business lens does not apply to these proposals as there are no additional costs to small business.

Consultation

(1) Regulations Repealing the Cigarette Ignition Propensity Regulations made under the Tobacco Act and making of the proposed Cigarette Ignition Propensity (Consumer Products) Regulations under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act

Stakeholders were previously consulted regarding a reduced ignition propensity standard during the development of the current Cigarette Ignition Propensity Regulations in 2004. As this regulatory initiative is administrative in nature, no recent consultation was undertaken.

(2) Regulations Amending the Tobacco (Seizure and Restoration) Regulations made under the Tobacco Act

Given the non-substantive nature of the amendment, no consultation was undertaken recently. A similar proposed amendment was published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, in April 2001. No comments were received.

(3) Regulations Amending the Tobacco Products Information Regulations (Miscellaneous Program) made under the Tobacco Act

Given the minor nature of the amendment, no consultation was undertaken.

Rationale

The proposed regulatory initiatives would serve to clarify the regulations in response to recent legislative developments, organizational changes, and review by the SJCSR. The impact on stakeholders would be minimal.

(1) Regulations Repealing the Cigarette Ignition Propensity Regulations made under the Tobacco Act and making of the proposed Cigarette Ignition Propensity (Consumer Products) Regulations under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act

The Cigarette Ignition Propensity (Consumer Products) Regulations would maintain the same ignition propensity performance standard that currently applies to cigarettes pursuant to the Cigarette Ignition Propensity Regulations under the Tobacco Act. While this regulatory initiative is intended to address the concerns of the SJCSR, the Department of Health maintains that the authority to mandate standards, including those to reduce the ignition propensity of cigarettes, exists under the Tobacco Act.

The implementation of this regulatory initiative is expected to result in a one-time minimal cost to the Department of Health to update policies and guidance documents for the Department of Health's compliance and enforcement activities.

(2) Regulations Amending the Tobacco (Seizure and Restoration) Regulations made under the Tobacco Act

Removal of an obsolete reference in the Regulations will ensure consistency with the current organizational structure within the Department of Health. There are no costs associated with the amendment.

(3) Regulations Amending the Tobacco Products Information Regulations (Miscellaneous Program) made under the Tobacco Act

This amendment would address a minor discrepancy between the English and French versions of the Tobacco Products Information Regulations, identified by the SJCSR. This minor change would not alter the current requirements of these Regulations.

Implementation, enforcement and service standards

(1) Regulations Repealing the Cigarette Ignition Propensity Regulations made under the Tobacco Act and making of the proposed Cigarette Ignition Propensity (Consumer Products) Regulations under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act

Compliance monitoring and enforcement activities would be undertaken by the Department of Health under the authority of the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act.

The Canada Consumer Product Safety Act prohibits the manufacture, import, advertising or sale of a consumer product that does not meet the requirements set out in the Regulations (section 6), or that poses an unreasonable hazard. This is in addition to a number of other prohibitions, the contravention of which are all subject to penalties. The Canada Consumer Product Safety Act is available online at http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-1.68/index.html.

Compliance with the ignition propensity standard set out in the Cigarette Ignition Propensity (Consumer Products) Regulations would continue to be monitored through the sampling and testing of cigarettes, among other activities.

(2) Regulations Amending the Tobacco (Seizure and Restoration) Regulations made under the Tobacco Act
(3) Regulations Amending the Tobacco Products Information Regulations (Miscellaneous Program) made under the Tobacco Act

No new compliance or enforcement activities would result from these amendments. Current activities would continue to be performed by the Department of Health.

Contact

Mr. Mathew Cook
Manager
Regulations Division
Tobacco Products Regulatory Office
Controlled Substances and Tobacco Directorate
Health Canada
Address Locator 0301A
150 Tunney's Pasture Driveway
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0K9
Fax: 613-948-8495
Email: pregs@hc-sc.gc.ca

PROPOSED REGULATORY TEXT

Notice is given that the Governor in Council, pursuant to section 37 of the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (see footnote a), proposes to make the annexed Cigarette Ignition Propensity (Consumer Products) Regulations.

Interested persons may make representations with respect to the proposed Regulations within 75 days after the date of publication of this notice. All such representations must cite the Canada Gazette, Part I, and the date of publication of this notice, and be addressed to Mathew Cook, Manager, Regulations Division, Tobacco Products Regulatory Office, Controlled Substances and Tobacco Directorate, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada, 150 Tunney's Pasture Driveway, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0K9 (fax: 613-948-8495; email: pregs@hc-sc.gc.ca).

Ottawa, February 26, 2014

JURICA ČAPKUN
Assistant Clerk of the Privy Council

CIGARETTE IGNITION PROPENSITY (CONSUMER PRODUCTS) REGULATIONS

INTERPRETATION

Definitions

1. The following definitions apply in these Regulations.

“brand”
« marque »

“brand” means all of the brand elements that as a whole are used by a manufacturer to identify its cigarettes to a consumer.

“brand element”
« élément de marque »

“brand element” includes a brand name, trade-mark, trade-name, distinguishing guise, logo, graphic arrangement, design or slogan that is reasonably associated with, or that evokes, a product, a service or a brand of product or service, but does not include a colour.

“cigarette”
« cigarette »

“cigarette” means any roll or tubular construction that contains tobacco, has a wrapper or cover made of paper and is consumed through the inhalation of the products of combustion. It does not include a bidi, cigar, little cigar or kretek.

APPLICATION

Non- application

2. These Regulations do not apply to cigarettes that are imported by an organization for

IGNITION PROPENSITY STANDARD

Standard

3. (1) Cigarettes of every size of each brand must burn their full length no more than 25% of the time when tested on 10 layers of filter paper using the International Organization for Standardization standard ISO 12863, entitled Standard test method for assessing the ignition propensity of cigarettes (ISO 12863), as amended from time to time.

Testing

(2) In each test, the cigarettes that are burned in every determination must be of the same size and of the same brand.

Determination

(3) For the purposes of this section, “determination” has the same meaning as in ISO 12863.


COMING INTO FORCE

Registration

4. These Regulations come into force on the day on which they are registered.

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