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

CPR Section 8 - Employer Exemptions

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Employer Exemptions

8. The sale of a controlled product to an employer is exempt from the application of paragraph 13(a) of the Act in respect of the requirement to disclose information that could be the subject of a claim for exemption under subsection 11(2) of the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act if

1. the employer has filed a claim for exemption or is exempt from disclosing that information in respect of the controlled product under
   
   1. the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act, or
      
   2. the laws of a province; and
   
   
2. the material safety data sheet of the controlled product transmitted in respect of that sale discloses in place of that information
   
   1. the information referred to in section 26 or 27, or
      
   2. where the information referred to in section 26 or 27 is not available, an emergency telephone number of the employer that will enable a physician or nurse to obtain any informa-tion referred to in paragraph 13(a) of the Act that is in the possession of the employer for the purpose of making a medical diagnosis of, or rendering medical treatment to, a person in an emergency.

Interpretation / Discussion of Section 8

This exemption does not apply to importation.

An employer who purchases a controlled product may consider the following categories of information to be confidential business information (CBI):

• the chemical identity or concentration of any ingredient of a controlled product;
• the name of any toxicological study that identifies any ingredient of a controlled product;
• the chemical name, common name, generic name, trade name or brand name of a controlled product; or
• information that could be used to identify a supplier of a controlled product

An employer, either directly or indirectly, may be required to disclose this information pursuant to the provisions of the Canada Labour Code.

Under provincial law, an employer may file a claim for exemption from disclosing the CBI on MSDSs in the employer's workplace. Depending on the province, the employer may file a claim for an exemption under the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act or under laws particular to that province. An employer who has received an exemption may wish to ensure that the same information does not appear on a supplier MSDS arriving at the employer's facility. This section enables the supplier to accommodate the employer's exemption by allowing the supplier to sell the product to the employer who has the exemption without disclosing the employer's CBI on the MSDS.

If the supplier chooses to accommodate his/her purchaser (i.e., the employer), the following conditions must be met:

If the employer's exemption is allowed under the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act, the supplier must replace the exempt information with the registry number and status of claim information (see section 26 or 27).

If the employer's exemption is allowed under provincial law directly by the province (such as is the case in Nova Scotia) and section 26 or 27 information is not available, the supplier must replace the exempt information with an emergency telephone number provided by the employer on the MSDS.