|
|
Risk Management
The EACSR has chosen to examine the role of risk management in
the development and implementation of regulation, with a specific
focus on science-based approaches in a rapidly changing
regulatory environment. The overall objective of health, safety,
and environmental regulation is to proactively protect Canadians
from threats to health and safety and to protect Canada's
natural environment. To this end, risk management is essential.
The Government of Canada can earn the trust of Canadians by
delivering a high level of health, safety, and environmental
protection and by ensuring a fair, efficient marketplace. In
situations of uncertainty, risk management (including risk
identification, management and communication) plays an essential
role in building public trust and business confidence in the
Canadian market and regulatory system. Trust and confidence, in
turn, can lead to improved competitiveness and incentives for investment.
At the same time, evolving science generates a continuous
discovery of new sources of risk across the globe. There is also
a greater public sensitivity to these risks than in the past,
driven by recent events such as threats to the safety of
Canada's blood supply in the late 1990s, West Nile Virus in
North America, the British and Canadian experience with BSE, and
Canadian experience with contaminated drinking water. In all
cases, it is necessary to balance and weigh the consequences of
sources of risk against another, which puts pressure on
Canada's capacity to manage risk. A key objective,
therefore, will be to achieve an optimal level of risk management
capacity by drawing on technology, information sharing and
international regulatory cooperation.
The EACSR is particularly interested in developing an
understanding of how risk management in the 21st
century can lead to greater levels of public trust in Canadian
products, services, markets and government institutions, greater
efficiency and flexibility in the regulatory system, and higher
levels of innovation. It is also interested in recommendations on
how Canada can improve the nets benefits of regulation by using
new approaches to risk management.
Areas for discussion:
-
How can risk management best serve as a tool to respond
to the demands of a knowledge-based economy and society,
particularly with respect to:
-
Trust in Canadian products, services, regulation and
markets;
-
The protection of human and animal health, human safety, and
the environment;
-
The rapid commercialization of scientific and technological
discoveries?
-
How and on what basis should government determine what
society's chosen level of protection against risk should
be, taking into account scientific assessments, risk-risk
trade-offs, and continuously evolving citizens' views?
-
How and when should government communicate with the public about risk?
-
How can Canada enhance its risk management capacity,
particularly with respect to reliable access to the best and most
current state of science (eg, drawing on the expertise held by
non-governmental partners, international organizations etc.)?
-
How should the government engage in international
cooperation on
issues that relate to risk management and regulation?
Resources
Background Material
|
