An Introduction to CCCR

CCCR or Consumer Chemicals and Container Regulations, 2001 is a set of regulations that falls under Canada’s Hazardous Products Act. It contains compliance guidelines related to handling of chemicals and substances that are sold in the retail market directly to the consumers. The Canadian Consumer Label Review keeps track of these substances that fall under this Act. It is also important to notice that the legislation does not cover substances falling under any other legislation like drugs, explosive, nuclear substances and the like.

What does CCCR stipulate?

The purpose of CCCR is to provide credible and reliable information about the substances to the persons handling and using them. The legislation makes it mandatory to display all relevant information about the substance on its label. The label of the product should contain:

• The name, scientific and otherwise, of the product in legitimate English and French
• The quantity contained within the package should be clearly displayed. In case of chemicals even minute deviations could be catastrophic, so great care should be taken for measuring and displaying
• The label should also contain relevant information about the supplier of the product and the place of the origin
• Most importantly, the label should contain comprehensive hazard information. This includes universally recognized hazard symbols, warnings, instructions for handling as well as first aid instructions to be followed in case of any untoward incident

The legislation also has provision for classifying the substances on the basis of their hazard potential. The size of the information depends on the size of the packaging and the relative importance of the information.