7. Where less than 3 years of the data referred to in section 6 are available on which to calculate the reference production rate, the operator is authorized to use a reference production rate calculated on the basis of available data, or an interim reference production rate.
An interim reference production rate corresponds to an estimation of the 90th percentile of the daily production of finished product less dissolving grade sulphite pulp, of dissolving grade sulphite pulp or of bleached pulp. The operator must send the estimation to the Minister, along with supporting documents.