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INTRODUCTION
The Canada Shipping Act (CSA), as amended by Chapter 36, Statutes of Canada 1993,
outlines Canada’s new marine oil spill preparedness and response regime. The private
sector regime seeks to ensure that Canada is better prepared to respond to ship-source
oil pollution incidents. An important component is ensuring the appropriate level of
response infrastructure is in place in the event of an incident. The establishment of privatesector
response organizations, providing a response capability to a maximum of 10,000
tonnes, is introduced for the first time in legislation through Chapter 36.
The standards for response organizations were developed following extensive
consultations with interested parties representing the spill response sector, petroleum and
shipping industries, environmental groups, provincial governments, and Canadian Coast
Guard and Environment Canada. The forum for considering the complex issues involved in
spill response was the “work group,” which held five meetings to achieve the consensus
contained in these standards.
The Canada Shipping Act defines standards as including “specifications and technical
and operational requirements.” Pursuant to section 660.6 (CSA), the Minister may issue
standards for response organizations. These standards provide details for response
organizations in developing their response plans, to enable them to comply with the
requirements for procedures, equipment and resources as set out in both the legislation
(s.s. 660.4(1)), and in the regulations for Response Organizations and Oil Handling
Facilities (made pursuant to s.s. 660.9(1)(b)).
The standards are intended to be used in the planning process in preparation for a
response to an oil spill incident. Each response plan will be unique, taking into account the
geographic features specific to that region. Since the response to an incident will be
influenced by environmental and other factors, the standards should not be used as a
yardstick against which to measure the appropriateness of the response. Rather, they
seek to ensure that a suitable response infrastructure is in place and ready to be deployed
in the event of any spill, regardless of size and conditions.
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