Canada Consumer Product Safety Act

With the recent coming into force of the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (the "CCPSA") on June 20, 2011, the Canadian product safety landscape has changed. The introduction of the CCPSA, has brought Canada's consumer product legislation more in line with that of its closest trading partners including the United States.

The stated purpose of the CCPSA is to protect the public by addressing or preventing dangers to human health or safety posed by consumer products. Consumer Products are broadly defined in the CCPSA to mean "a product, including its components, parts or accessories, that may reasonably be expected to be obtained by an individual to be used for non-commercial purposes, including for domestic, recreational and sports purposes, and includes its packaging ("Consumer Products"). The CCPSA applies to all Consumer Products save and except those that are governed by other product safety legislation and which are expressly exempted from the ambit of the CCPSA