Non‑domestic Substances List Amended; Waivers Published

Summary#

On March 17, 2026, the Minister of the Environment published Order 2026-87-03-02 Amending the Non-domestic Substances List, which removes three substance identifiers from the federal Non‑domestic Substances List. At the same time, the department posted two public tables showing companies that were granted waivers from some testing or information requirements under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999.

What it does#

• Deletes these identifiers from Part I and Part II of the Non‑domestic Substances List:
  • Part I: 68439-47-4, 147853-32-5
  • Part II: 19637-5 (listed as “Phosphorane, pentahalo-, polymer with ammonium halide, P‑carbomono cyclicoxy derivs.”)
• States that these deletions take effect on the same day as Order 2026-87-03-01 Amending the Domestic Substances List (the Gazette notice ties the timing of this order to that other order; a specific date for that other order was not given here).
• Publishes waivers granted under the Act:
  • A table of waivers for living organisms (under subsection 106(9)) listing biotech and pharmaceutical firms that were allowed to skip some ecological or antibiotic‑susceptibility tests for specific organisms.
  • A table of waivers for chemical substances (under subsection 81(9)) listing companies that were allowed to omit some standard physical‑chemical or toxicity tests (for example, hydrolysis rate, octanol/water partition coefficient, ready biodegradation, or certain mutagenicity tests).
• Notes that waiver decisions are made case‑by‑case by the Minister of the Environment, in consultation with the Minister of Health.

Who's affected#

• Companies that make or import the specific substances or living organisms listed. Examples named in the waiver tables include Allogene Therapeutics, AstraZeneca Canada Inc., Gilead Sciences Canada Inc., Novozymes Canada Limited, and Sanofi Pasteur Limited.
• Chemical manufacturers and importers tied to the deleted CAS numbers. Removing those identifiers from the Non‑domestic List follows their addition to the Domestic Substances List (as stated in the order).
• Labs and contractors that would otherwise perform the waived tests.
• Regulators and people who follow new‑substance reporting and testing for environmental protection.

Why it matters#

• Removing a substance from the Non‑domestic Substances List (and adding it to the Domestic Substances List, as the order states) changes how that substance is treated under the law: it is no longer treated as a “new” substance for certain pre‑market notification steps. That can affect whether companies must submit new‑substance declarations before importing or manufacturing.
• Waivers mean some companies do not have to provide certain test data. That can speed introduction or development of products (for example, biotech therapies or industrial chemicals). It also means there may be less publicly available test data about environmental or health effects for those specific items.
• The government says these waiver decisions are routine and made case‑by‑case; it notes that each year roughly 300 regulatory declarations are submitted and around 100 waivers are granted (the Gazette item points readers to the New Substances program website for more information).