NRCan: New Regulations Tighten Controls on Restricted Chemicals

March 27, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS

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Canada is taking action to better control the sale of chemicals that can be used to make explosives, according to Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).

New regulations for these chemicals, known as explosives precursors, will be implemented under Canada's Explosives Act.

"Following extensive public consultation, the government of Canada has developed new regulations for specific chemicals that reflect our commitment to public safety and security while minimizing impact on Canadian industry and end-users," said Gary Lunn, Canada's minister of natural resources.

"The new regulations will increase security measures related to the sale of these chemicals, as well as prohibit the resale of ammonium nitrate by customers."

The new regulations will require that anyone who sells ammonium nitrate, or any of the eight other chemicals, be registered with the Explosives Regulatory Division of NRCan and comply with security measures for storage, record keeping and customer identification.

"Our government believes that new controls on explosives precursors are necessary to reduce the risk of terrorist acts," said Stockwell Day, Canada's minister of public safety. "This list of chemicals was drawn up on the basis of expert scientific and security analyses and includes chemicals that pose the greatest risk, and therefore, require regulatory control."

The nine chemicals to be controlled under the new regulations currently have a wide range of legitimate uses, such as ammonium nitrate, which is commonly used in agriculture as fertilizer. The chemicals include: ammonium nitrate, nitric acid, nitromethane, hydrogen peroxide, potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, potassium chlorate, sodium chlorate and potassium perchlorate.

The regulations take effect for ammonium nitrate on June 1, 2008 and for the eight other restricted chemicals on March 1, 2009.

Canada's government will provide registration and annual reporting procedures and services, and will undertake outreach activities to raise awareness of the regulations with both sellers and end-users. NRCan will work in partnership with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to undertake compliance inspections for ammonium nitrate utilizing the cross-country network of CFIA inspectors.

According to NRCan, the new regulations are based on expert security and scientific analyses, and this regulatory approach is consistent with the direction being taken in the U.S., Australia and the European Union (EU).

Source: Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).