Library of Parliament Summaries on Food and Consumer Safety Bills

There are legislative summaries by the Library of Parliament for two consumer safety bills currently making their way through the federal legislature:

• An Act to amend the Food and Drugs Act (Bill C-51): "The bill essentially overhauls the existing Food and Drugs Act by restructuring its format and replacing pages of existing text with new text that does not necessarily relate in any way to the existing text. In addition to technical and consequential amendments, and the inclusion of new definitions, new regulation-making powers, transitional provisions and consequential amendments, the bill: creates new offences relating to food, therapeutic products (a new term used in the bill that includes drugs) and cosmetics; requires licences for importing food and for interprovincial trade in food; makes amendments to therapeutic product licensing; expands the powers of inspectors; adds new 'Administration and Enforcement' measures, including mandatory recalls of therapeutic products and cosmetics; substantially increases the penalties relating to offences; and provides for the disclosure of confidential business information in certain circumstances."
• Consumer Product Safety Act (Bill C-52): "This bill is designed to repeal and replace Part I of the Hazardous Products Act, creating a new system to regulate consumer products that pose, or might reasonably be expected to pose, a danger to human health and safety. Bill C-52: prohibits the sale of certain listed products and provides for testing and evaluation of consumer products; makes it mandatory for manufacturers, importers, and sellers of consumer products to report dangerous incidents associated with these products to the Minister of Health; obliges manufacturers, importers and sellers of consumer products to report product or labelling defects that result, or might reasonably be expected to result, in death or serious adverse effects on health, including serious injury, to the Minister of Health; requires manufacturers, importers and sellers of consumer products to report recalls of consumer products initiated by governments and government institutions in Canada or elsewhere to the Minister of Health; provides for the inspection and seizure of consumer products for the purpose of verifying compliance or non-compliance with the bill’s provisions; empowers the federal government to institute interim and permanent recalls of products that pose, or might reasonably be expected to pose, a danger to human health or safety; and establishes both criminal and administrative penalties for those who violate the CCPSA or orders made under it. "

It is possible to follow progress of the 2 bills via RSS feeds available on the following pages:

• Bill C-51
• Bill C-52