Inside Regulatory Affairs - March 2023

Have your say on the Annual Regulatory Modernization Bill consultation

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) is seeking input from industry stakeholders, non-governmental organizations and other organizations or individuals interested in legislative issues related to regulatory modernization for its next iteration of the Annual Regulatory Modernization Bill (ARMB). This consultation is available on the online engagement platform being piloted by TBS, Let’s Talk Federal Regulations. The consultation focuses on three key elements:

• Incorporation by reference of internal government documents by allowing specific documents to have the same force of law as regulations, without the need to make regulatory changes each time the document is updated.

• Sandbox authorities to help test a regulatory approach in a controlled and temporary space, collect evidence on how the approach works and then use that evidence to make any permanent regulatory changes or decisions.

• Gathering suggestions on potential legislative changes to remove unnecessary requirements and address overly-restrictive legislation or burdensome processes.

More information about the themes, guiding questions and instructions for submissions are found on the project page. The deadline to submit comments is May 26, 2023.

After this consultation period, TBS will share the comments received with federal regulators for validation and use the comments to inform future versions of the ARMB. All comments that involve regulators from federal, international or provincial/territorial jurisdictions will be shared with them for their consideration. However, out-of-scope comments will not be tracked as part of this consultation.

A summary of comments will be published after the consultation and all input received will be made available on the Open Data portal. Updates will be shared through this newsletter.

If you have any questions or require any assistance, contact the Regulatory Affairs Sector at regulation-reglementation@tbs-sct.gc.ca.

Canada–European Union Regulatory Cooperation Forum

Registration for the Stakeholder Debrief Meeting is now open

The fifth annual meeting of the Regulatory Cooperation Forum (RCF) under the Canada–European Union (EU) Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) will take place on Thursday, April 27, 2023. Following this meeting, the Canadian and EU Co-chairs will debrief stakeholders on all active work plan items and items of interest on Friday, April 28, 2023.

The RCF promotes regulatory cooperation between Canada and the EU in areas like consumer product safety and pediatric medicines. The Stakeholder Debrief Meeting is an excellent opportunity to learn more about how Canada and the EU are working together to share information and experiences and reduce unnecessary regulatory differences.

To learn more about the meeting and how to register for the stakeholder debrief, see the online invitation. The deadline to register is April 14, 2023.

2022 Annual Report of the Regulatory Reconciliation and Cooperation Table

The 2022 Annual Report of the Regulatory Reconciliation and Cooperation Table of the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) is now available on the CFTA’s website. The report mentions the work plan items that were completed in 2022, and the RCT’s plans for 2023.