Marginal note:Minister’s request for disclosure

• 20. (1) Where the Minister has reason to believe that a product, material or substance is a product, material or substance that may be included in a class listed in Schedule II by a regulation made pursuant to paragraph 15(1)(a), the Minister may, by registered mail, send a written notice to any person who is engaged in the business of manufacturing, processing, importing, packaging or selling the product, material or substance requesting the disclosure of information relating to the formula, composition, chemical ingredients or hazardous properties of the product, material or substance and such other information as the Minister deems necessary for the purpose of determining whether the product, material or substance is or may be a danger to the health or safety of any person who may handle it in a work place or be exposed to it in a work place.

• Marginal note:Disclosure

  (2) Every person to whom a notice referred to in subsection (1) is sent shall disclose to the Minister, in the manner and within the period specified by the Minister in the notice, any information described in that subsection that is requested in the notice and is in the possession of the person.

• Marginal note:Information privileged

  (3) Subject to subsection (4), information received by the Minister from a person pursuant to subsection (1) is privileged and, notwithstanding the Access to Information Act or any other Act or law, shall not be disclosed to any other person except as may be necessary for the administration or enforcement of this section or for the purposes of section 15.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (4) The Minister shall not, when consulting with the government of a province or an organization of workers, organization of employers or organization of suppliers pursuant to section 19, for the purposes of section 15, disclose the name of any person from whom the Minister has received information pursuant to subsection (1) or any of such information that is specified, in writing, by the person as being confidential.

Marginal note:Inspectors and analysts

• 21. (1) The Minister may designate as an inspector or analyst for the purposes of this Act any person who, in the Minister’s opinion, is qualified to be so designated.

• Marginal note:Certificate to be produced

  (2) The Minister shall furnish every inspector with a certificate of designation and, on entering any place pursuant to subsection 22(1), an inspector shall, if so required, produce the certificate to the person in charge of that place.

Marginal note:Powers of inspectors

• 22. (1) An inspector may at any reasonable time enter any place where the inspector believes on reasonable grounds any hazardous product is manufactured, prepared, preserved, processed, packaged, sold or stored for sale, processing or packaging and

  • (a) examine any product, material or substance that the inspector believes on reasonable grounds is a hazardous product and take samples thereof, and examine any other thing that the inspector believes on reasonable grounds is used or is capable of being used for the manufacture, preparation, preservation, processing, packaging, sale or storage of a hazardous product;

  • (b) open and examine any receptacle or package that the inspector believes on reasonable grounds contains any hazardous product;

  • (c) examine any books, records or other documents that the inspector believes on reasonable grounds contain any information relevant to the enforcement of this Act and make copies thereof or of any portion thereof;

  • (d) where the inspector believes on reasonable grounds that any computer system on the premises contains data relevant to the enforcement of this Act or that such data is available to the computer system, use the computer system or cause it to be used to search any data contained in or available to the computer system, reproduce any record or cause it to be reproduced from the data in the form of a printout or other intelligible output and seize the printout or other output for examination or copying; and

  • (e) seize any product, material or substance, or any labelling, advertising material or other thing, by means of or in relation to which the inspector believes on reasonable grounds any provision of this Act or of any regulation made under this Act has been contravened or has not been complied with.

• Marginal note:Assistance to inspectors

  (2) The owner or person in charge of a place entered by an inspector pursuant to subsection (1) and every person found therein shall give the inspector such assistance and furnish the inspector with such information as the inspector may, for the purpose of exercising the powers referred to in paragraphs (1)(a) to (e), reasonably require them to give or furnish.

• Marginal note:Certain information privileged

  (3) All information that, pursuant to the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act, a supplier is exempt from disclosing under paragraph 13(a) or (b) or 14(a) or (b) and that is obtained by an inspector who is admitted to any place pursuant to the powers conferred on an inspector by subsection (1) is privileged and, notwithstanding the Access to Information Act or any other Act or law, shall not be disclosed to any other person except for the purposes of the administration and enforcement of this Act.