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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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