As noted in our January 14th Regulatory Essentials Newsletter, the Prohibition of Certain Toxic Substances Regulations, 2025 were published in the Canada Gazette, Part II on December 31, 2025, and will replace the 2012 Regulations on June 23, 2026.
Following a review of the Gazette Notice, we are pleased to report that one of the positive changes in the finalized regulatory text is the removal of the generic de minimis threshold for incidental presence. Although, specific de minimis thresholds remain for very specific chemistries (with scientific rationalization), the proposed clause that stipulated that the presence of a regulated substance above a specific threshold would automatically be determined to be ‘intentionally added’, has been justifiably dropped. This would have set an inappropriate and scientifically unwarranted precedent. This evolution in the final regulatory text is the direct result of advocacy efforts made by Cosmetics Alliance Canada and our industry association partners.
The Regulations also retain transition provisions and a time-limited permit mechanism to support substitution and supply chain adjustments for substances such as PFOS, PFOA, LC-PFCAs, HBCD, PBDEs, Dechlorane Plus, and decabromodiphenyl ethane.
During this session, officials clearly affirmed the important evolution in the regulatory text regarding ‘incidental presence’, as highlighted above; however, the suggestion was made that it is possible that the establishment of further corresponding limits may be introduced at some point in the future. In this regard, we will continue to be vigilant in reviewing any amendments to this Regulation, or any other regulatory proposal that may seek to introduce a generic ‘blanket’ de minimis limit for incidental presence.
An English version of the presentation is available here.
These final Regulations reinforce existing Canadian risk management measures regarding the intentional use of specific classes of PFAS. For more information on these revised regulations, please refer to the CEPA Registry. You can also reach out to your CA Regulatory Team at regulatory@cosmeticsalliance.ca.
