18. Where, on 7 July 2022, a municipal body or an Aboriginal community is a party to a contract for the collection and transportation of residual materials that ends not later than 31 December 2024, a producer must, not later than 8 months after 7 July 2022, take steps to enter into, with that municipal body or Aboriginal community or with any other municipal body or Aboriginal community, a contract for, as a minimum, the collection and transportation of residual materials from residential buildings with less than 9 dwellings with the minimum content set out in section 25.
Where, 16 months after 7 July 2022, no contract has been entered into pursuant to the first paragraph, the producer and the municipal body or Aboriginal community, as the case may be, may, within 14 days after the time limit, begin a mediation process with a mediator selected from a list of mediators selected pursuant to section 53. The producer and the municipal body or Aboriginal community, as the case may be, pay the fees, expenses, allowances and indemnities of the mediator entrusted with the dispute jointly and in equal shares.
The Minister and the Société must be notified by the producer, within the same time limit, of the reasons of the dispute preventing the entering into the contract referred to in the first paragraph and of the selection of a mediator, if applicable.
The Minister and the Société must be notified in writing of the outcome by the mediator within 30 days of the end of the mediation process.
If the municipal body or Aboriginal community and the producer opt to begin the mediation process referred to in the second paragraph, it may not take longer than 2 months from the date of the notice sent to the Minister in accordance with the third paragraph.
973-2022O.C. 973-2022, s. 18; 1365-2023O.C. 1365-2023, s. 611b.