ECRC is certified by Transport Canada – Marine Safety and Security, as Response Organization under the Canada Shipping Act (CSA) 2001. As a certified Response Organization (RO), ECRC can provide an arrangement to vessels for the quantity of oil the ship carries (to a maximum of 10,000 tonnes) and also to oil handing facilities (OHF) that require an arrangement under Canadian Law.
The applies to:
ECRC maintains certification in those areas of Canada that have navigable waters east of the Rocky Mountains.
ECRC owns specialized equipment and maintains contracts with spill response contractors, consultants and specialists in the six Response Centres. ECRC has also established mutual aid agreements with the three other Response Organizations in Canada: one in British Columbia on the west coast and two in the Maritime Provinces on the east coast of Canada.
In order to have coverage under the legislation, a vessel or facility requiring an arrangement with a certified Response Organization will have to register with the RO that operates in the Geographic Area of Response (GAR) through which the vessel will sail or in which the facility has its operations. For ECRC, this means signing an annual contract for the Great Lakes, Quebec or Atlantic Regions as applicable and paying a membership fee of $775 CAD (plus applicable taxes) per contract. An arrangement is in place such that, companies can register with all three of the Response Organizations in Eastern Canada by submitting a combined contract to the ECRC with a payment of $1050 CAD (plus applicable taxes).