The following is provided by Transport Canada.
Issues: An internal audit of Transport Canada’s (TC) Transportation of Dangerous Goods (TDG) Program in 2006, and a 2011 audit by the Office of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development (CESD), highlighted that TC did not know who are involved in the importation, offering for transport, handling or transportation of dangerous goods (hereafter referred to as “DG activities”); did not have sufficient information to understand the risks of some products and operations, or the means to collect such information; and did not have the tools to assess risk and properly evaluate priorities for the risk-based oversight program. These findings were deemed a public safety risk. The CESD recommended that TC develop and implement a national risk-based system to prioritize its inspections of TDG Sites operated by persons involved in DG activities. Although TC has developed a system, the CESD found in 2020 that the information included in the system is either outdated or incomplete. In order to evaluate and address risks effectively within the TDG Program, TC needs current, accurate, and complete information about persons involved in the transportation of dangerous goods.
Description: This regulatory proposal would introduce the following requirements to the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulations (TDGR):
• require that persons who import, offer for transport, handle or transport dangerous goods be registered in a new registration database when applicable; and
• require that all registered persons provide administrative information and information concerning the dangerous goods and operations being conducted at their respective TDG Site.
Rationale: The registration requirements would respond to the issues highlighted in the CESD reports by ensuring that TC is provided accurate and current data about those involved in the transportation of dangerous goods in Canada as well as the nature and volume of dangerous goods involved in DG activities.
The proposed amendments would result in a present value total cost of $12.39 million for persons involved in DG activities and $2.67 million to the Government of Canada between 2022 and 2031. Overall, the proposed amendments would provide more information about TDG Sites that are currently known, and identify TDG Sites that are unknown to TC. This information would be used to conduct broader risk analysis with the intention of better informing decision-making, enhancing the efficiency of TC’s existing oversight framework and promoting compliance; all of which would help reduce the likelihood or the severity of incidents on TDG Sites and better protect employees conducting DG activities and Canadians at large. Even though these benefits are not quantified or monetized due to lack of data, they are expected to outweigh the monetized costs of the proposed amendments.
70 days consultation (until September 03, 2022)