Foreword

This Environment Canada/Health Canada response document addresses the 76 consensus recommendations from the multistakeholder consultations on the New Substances Notification (NSN) Regulations and the New Substances (NS) Program. Environment Canada and Health Canada would like to acknowledge that several additional issues were discussed during the consultations for which consensus was not achieved. These issues include the adequacy of current risk assessment methodologies (section 3.1.2 of the report entitled Consultations on the CEPA New Substances Notification Regulations and New Substances Program: Final Report of the Multistakeholder Consultations, hereafter referred to as "the Final Report"), the public advocacy groups' alternative proposal to the current risk assessment process (the Sunrise Protocol) (sections 3.2.1 and Appendix 8 of the Final Report) and international issues such as testing requirements for export-only substances (section 3.2.3 of the Final Report).

While the departments' initial focus is to pursue the implementation of the consensus recommendations as outlined in this document, Environment Canada and Health Canada are committed to addressing these important non-consensus matters with all stakeholders in the longer term to determine whether concrete recommendations should be developed and factored into our agenda for change of the program and regulations.