Reference Manual for the WHMIS Requirements of the Hazardous Products Act and Controlled Products Regulations

CPR Section 24 - Manner of Disclosing Information

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Manner of Disclosing Information

24.(1) The information required to be disclosed on a material safety data sheet of a controlled product shall be disclosed at the time of the sale of the controlled product in English and in French on a single material safety data sheet or on two material safety data sheets.

(2) Where a supplier transmits a material safety data sheet in respect of a controlled product, the information shall be disclosed on the material safety data sheet in English or in French, or both, in accordance with the request of the person to whom the controlled product is sold or, where the person does not specify the language in which the information shall be transmitted, the information shall be transmitted in English or in French, whichever is used in the course of the sale between the supplier and the person.

(3) The information required to be disclosed on the label of a controlled product or the container in which a controlled product is packaged shall be disclosed in English and in French.

Interpretation / Discussion of Section 24

Section 19 of the CPR specifies the information that must be disclosed on a WHMIS supplier label. As reflected by subsection 6.2.1 of the Report of the WHMIS Steering Committee, the original WHMIS tripartite consensus group agreed that "the supplier label would be in both official languages".

Canada, as a signatory to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement (formerly GATT Agreement) and the NAFTA Agreement has both rights and obligations under the Agreements on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreements) which are sub-agreements found in both documents. Both the WTO and NAFTA TBT agreements clearly state that members shall ensure that technical regulations are not prepared, adopted or applied with a view to or with the effect of creating unnecessary obstacles to international trade. For this purpose, technical regulations shall not be made more trade-restrictive than necessary to fulfil a legitimate objective, taking account of the risks non-fulfilment would create.

For the purposes of the TBT agreements, "Legitimate Objectives" are defined as inter alia: national security requirements; the prevention of deceptive practices; protection of human health or safety, animal or plant life or health, or the environment. In assessing such risks, relevant elements of consideration are, inter alia: available scientific and technical information, related processing technology or intended end uses of products.

The discussion of this issue prompted Health Canada to investigate the use of Spanish from a legal perspective. The ensuing legal opinion advised that subsection 24(3) of the CPR does not prohibit the use of Spanish within the WHMIS border of a supplier label. This legal opinion would also preclude a CIC policy to the contrary; {ref.: IWCC Policy Paper No. 2}.

Form of language: The CPR does not specify the specific form of language of English or French that is to be used on labels and MSDSs. Thus, any form of language "option" provided by, for example, common word processing programs would be acceptable.

Subsections 24(1) and (2):

The supplier must provide a MSDS in the official language or languages requested by the purchaser or, when no preference is stated, in the language used in the course of the business transaction. Suppliers must have prepared MSDSs in both English and French by the time they begin selling the product. This is to ensure that there are no delays in transmitting information in one language where it has been requested in that language. A request for an MSDS in both languages can be met by having information in both languages on a single MSDS or two MSDSs, one in English and one in French.¹

Note: The HPA does not place any obligations on exporters of controlled products to Canada. Section 14 of the HPA places a legal requirement on the Canadian importer of a controlled product to obtain or prepare a MSDS as a condition of importation. If the importer imports a controlled product solely for use in his or her workplace, it is only necessary to obtain or prepare the MSDS in the official language(s) used in the importer's workplace. If, however, the Canadian importer sells the product for use in a workplace in Canada, as required by subsection 24(1), the importer, (who would now be a supplier subject to section 13 of the HPA), must have the MSDS available in both English and French at the time of sale although, as provided for by subsection 24(2), it may be necessary to transmit the MSDS to the purchaser in only one of the official languages.

Subsection 24(3):

Labels must be in both English and French. It is acceptable to have both English and French information within one WHMIS border or to have the English and French information within two separate WHMIS borders. However, if the second option is used, hazard symbols must be disclosed on both the English and the French labels.

The stipulations of this subsection do not preclude the use of other languages in addition to English and French.

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¹ The publication Vocabulary of Hazardous Materials in the Workplace, Catalogue No. S52-2/215-1993, ISBN 0-660-57958-8, consists of a list of terms used in the regulations and other documents specifically dealing with WHMIS. This document is useful particularly to those tasked with the translation of WHMIS-type information.