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2012-2013 Scorecard report: reducing regulatory administrative burden and improving service and predictability (view source)
Revision as of 00:09, 12 July 2022
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== 1. Executive Summary ==
== Executive Summary ==
<blockquote style="background-color: lightgrey; border: solid thin grey;">In 2012–2013, 86% of all final, Governor in Council (GIC)-approved regulatory changes published in the Canada Gazette either reduced (7%) or did not impose any new (79%) administrative burden on business.
<blockquote style="background-color: lightgrey; border: solid thin grey;">In 2012–2013, 86% of all final, Governor in Council (GIC)-approved regulatory changes published in the Canada Gazette either reduced (7%) or did not impose any new (79%) administrative burden on business.
This Scorecard Report captures the progress made in implementing the systemic reforms in the 2012–2013 Fiscal Year. Overall, it demonstrates that the reforms are being faithfully implemented and have traction and momentum within government. It also shows progress is clearly being made and, perhaps most importantly, that a solid foundation for sustained results achievement has been built.
This Scorecard Report captures the progress made in implementing the systemic reforms in the 2012–2013 Fiscal Year. Overall, it demonstrates that the reforms are being faithfully implemented and have traction and momentum within government. It also shows progress is clearly being made and, perhaps most importantly, that a solid foundation for sustained results achievement has been built.
=== 1.1. The One-for-One Rule ===
=== The One-for-One Rule ===
<blockquote style="background-color: lightgrey; border: solid thin grey;">Service standards help to create a more transparent and predictable federal regulatory system, making it easier for Canadians and businesses to know what to expect in terms of the timeliness of decision making.
<blockquote style="background-color: lightgrey; border: solid thin grey;">Service standards help to create a more transparent and predictable federal regulatory system, making it easier for Canadians and businesses to know what to expect in terms of the timeliness of decision making.
In 2012–2013, all portfolios that published final, GIC-approved regulatory changes in the ''Canada Gazette'' with administrative burden cost increases or decreases reduced the overall burden of their regulations. Burden relief was provided through a wide range of regulatory changes that eliminated unnecessary or redundant reporting requirements imposed on business.
In 2012–2013, all portfolios that published final, GIC-approved regulatory changes in the ''Canada Gazette'' with administrative burden cost increases or decreases reduced the overall burden of their regulations. Burden relief was provided through a wide range of regulatory changes that eliminated unnecessary or redundant reporting requirements imposed on business.
=== 1.2. The Small Business Lens ===
=== The Small Business Lens ===
The Small Business Lens, which came into effect on February 1, 2012, requires that regulators consider small business realities and consult early with small businesses in designing regulations.
The Small Business Lens, which came into effect on February 1, 2012, requires that regulators consider small business realities and consult early with small businesses in designing regulations.
In 2012–2013, the Small Business Lens only applied to regulatory proposals under development that had yet to come forward to Cabinet for final approval. It is therefore too early to determine whether the Lens is having the intended impact. However, there were some early signs that regulators have become more sensitive to and transparent in describing the potential impact of their regulations on the small business community.
In 2012–2013, the Small Business Lens only applied to regulatory proposals under development that had yet to come forward to Cabinet for final approval. It is therefore too early to determine whether the Lens is having the intended impact. However, there were some early signs that regulators have become more sensitive to and transparent in describing the potential impact of their regulations on the small business community.
=== 1.3. Forward regulatory plans ===
=== Forward regulatory plans ===
By introducing forward regulatory plans, the Government has taken a significant step to increase the transparency of the federal regulatory system for Canadians and businesses. These plans provide stakeholders with early notice of regulatory changes to be introduced by regulators within a 24-month period.
By introducing forward regulatory plans, the Government has taken a significant step to increase the transparency of the federal regulatory system for Canadians and businesses. These plans provide stakeholders with early notice of regulatory changes to be introduced by regulators within a 24-month period.
In spring 2013, regulators posted 32 forward regulatory plans on their Acts and Regulations Web pages. Collectively, regulators identified about 460 planned regulatory initiatives in these plans. These initiatives covered a wide range of sectors—from health and the environment, to security and trade. The vast majority of the identified initiatives (75%) were not expected to have any business impacts.
In spring 2013, regulators posted 32 forward regulatory plans on their Acts and Regulations Web pages. Collectively, regulators identified about 460 planned regulatory initiatives in these plans. These initiatives covered a wide range of sectors—from health and the environment, to security and trade. The vast majority of the identified initiatives (75%) were not expected to have any business impacts.
=== 1.4. Service standards for high-volume regulatory authorizations ===
=== Service standards for high-volume regulatory authorizations ===
Service standards are a public commitment to a measurable level of performance that clients can expect under normal circumstances. The Government has committed to establishing and reporting annually on service standards for those high-volume regulatory authorizations where service standards either do not exist or are not publicly available.
Service standards are a public commitment to a measurable level of performance that clients can expect under normal circumstances. The Government has committed to establishing and reporting annually on service standards for those high-volume regulatory authorizations where service standards either do not exist or are not publicly available.
In spring 2013, regulators posted service standards for 24 high-volume regulatory authorizations and processes on their Acts and Regulations Web pages. As a result, more than 60,000 annual transactions (or “touch points”) with businesses have been added to those already governed by a publicly available timeliness commitment, performance target and service feedback mechanism. This represents an important first step towards improving service performance across the federal regulatory system.
In spring 2013, regulators posted service standards for 24 high-volume regulatory authorizations and processes on their Acts and Regulations Web pages. As a result, more than 60,000 annual transactions (or “touch points”) with businesses have been added to those already governed by a publicly available timeliness commitment, performance target and service feedback mechanism. This represents an important first step towards improving service performance across the federal regulatory system.
== 2. Federal Regulatory Management in Canada ==
== Federal Regulatory Management in Canada ==
=== 2.1 The role of federal regulation in Canada ===
=== The role of federal regulation in Canada ===
<blockquote style="background-color: lightblue; border: solid thin grey;">“A robust and effective regulatory system provides consistency, fairness, and transparency, and supports innovation, productivity, and competition.”
<blockquote style="background-color: lightblue; border: solid thin grey;">“A robust and effective regulatory system provides consistency, fairness, and transparency, and supports innovation, productivity, and competition.”
Despite the importance of regulation to maintaining a fair and competitive economy, Canadians and businesses from across the country have identified a number of regulatory irritants that add unnecessary delays, costs and bureaucracy. This has a direct and negative impact on their bottom lines. Cutting regulatory red tape and reducing barriers in the regulatory system will therefore free up businesses to expand and create jobs, while cementing Canada’s reputation as one of the best places in the world to do business.
Despite the importance of regulation to maintaining a fair and competitive economy, Canadians and businesses from across the country have identified a number of regulatory irritants that add unnecessary delays, costs and bureaucracy. This has a direct and negative impact on their bottom lines. Cutting regulatory red tape and reducing barriers in the regulatory system will therefore free up businesses to expand and create jobs, while cementing Canada’s reputation as one of the best places in the world to do business.
=== 2.2. The Cabinet Directive on Regulatory Management ===
=== The Cabinet Directive on Regulatory Management ===
The Cabinet Directive on Regulatory Management (CDRM), which came into effect on April 1, 2012, applies to all federal departments, agencies, and entities (herein referred to as “regulators”) over which Cabinet has either general or specific regulation-making authority.
The Cabinet Directive on Regulatory Management (CDRM), which came into effect on April 1, 2012, applies to all federal departments, agencies, and entities (herein referred to as “regulators”) over which Cabinet has either general or specific regulation-making authority.
* to create accessible, understandable and responsive regulation; and
* to create accessible, understandable and responsive regulation; and
* to require timeliness, policy coherence and minimal duplication throughout the regulatory process.
* to require timeliness, policy coherence and minimal duplication throughout the regulatory process.
=== The Government of Canada’s regulatory reform agenda ===
<blockquote style="background-color: lightblue; border: solid thin grey;">“Red tape is like death by a thousand paper cuts. It’s a cost that leaves hundreds of thousands of small business owners frustrated. Every hour spent dealing with red tape is an hour not spent serving a customer or training an employee. It has a huge impact on all Canadians.”
Laura Jones, Senior Vice-President, Canadian Federation of Independent Business, ''Times and Transcript'', January 14, 2012</blockquote>In January 2011, Prime Minister Stephen Harper launched the Red Tape Reduction Commission. The Commission was asked to identify irritants to business stemming from federal regulation and make specific and system-wide recommendations on how to reduce the regulatory burden.
The Commission canvassed business representatives from across the country with an emphasis on identifying regulatory irritants that have a clear detrimental effect on growth, competitiveness and innovation, particularly from a small business perspective. Through these consultations, business representatives voiced frustration over duplicative regulatory requirements, high administrative costs and a lack of a customer-service orientation within government in providing regulatory services.
Overall, business representatives felt that regulators have a poor understanding of industry realities and need to pay greater attention to timeliness, predictability and accountability.
Following the release of the Commission’s "What Was Heard" Report in September 2011, its Recommendations Report was released in January 2012. The Report outlined several “systemic” recommendations to address the root causes of regulatory red tape and 90 additional department-specific recommendations to reduce or eliminate regulatory irritants.
The Red Tape Reduction Action Plan, released in October 2012, is the Government’s response to the Commission's recommendations. The Action Plan underscores the Government’s commitment to breaking down barriers to doing business in Canada and building the foundations of long term prosperity.
The Action Plan details a package of fundamental, government-wide regulatory reforms that the Government is implementing to address the Commission’s “systemic” recommendations. These systemic reforms are:
* '''The One-for-One Rule''', which targets and strictly controls the growth of administrative burden on business imposed by regulation. More information on the Rule can be found in Chapter 3.
* '''The Small Business Lens''', which requires that regulators take into account the needs and realities of small business when they design or change regulations. More information on the Lens can be found in Chapter 4.
* '''Forward regulatory plans''', which provide Canadians and businesses with an early warning of regulatory changes affecting them over a 24-month period. More information on these plans can be found in Chapter 5.
* '''Service standards for high-volume regulatory authorizations''', which drive accountability for service improvement, particularly for those authorizations and processes that impact business. More information on service standards can be found in Chapter 6.
* '''Interpretation policies''', which provide clarity on how regulators interpret their regulations and when they can be counted on to give answers in writing to questions or concerns from stakeholders. Interpretation policies are under development and will be publicly-released later this year.
==== '''An Administrative Burden Baseline initiative''', through which regulators will develop and maintain an inventory of requirements in regulation that impose administrative burden on business, thereby providing additional assurance of the Government’s commitment to monitoring and reporting on regulatory red tape. Once established, these inventories will help regulators manage their stock of regulatory requirements. Regulators will release their initial inventories of regulatory requirements by fall 2014, to be updated annually thereafter.Government-wide results ====
In addition, the Action Plan accepts all of the Commission’s 90 department-specific recommendations, the vast majority of which will be implemented by the applicable regulator(s) by the end of 2015–2016.
=== A transparent and accountable approach to reform implementation ===
The commitment to transparency and accountability is central to the implementation of the systemic regulatory reforms. For example, details on how the One-for-One Rule and the Small Business Lens have been applied to regulations are publicly available through the ''Canada Gazette''. Furthermore, in spring 2013 regulators created 36 new '''Acts and Regulations Web pages'''. Although not called for in the Action Plan, these standardized Web pages are intended to make regulatory information easier to find and provide a more consistent user experience for Canadians and businesses. These Web pages also showcase a regulator’s forward regulatory plan, service standards for high-volume regulatory authorizations and other regulatory red tape reduction efforts.
The publication of an Annual Scorecard Report on the implementation of the systemic reforms further underscores the Government’s commitment to transparency and accountability. This edition of the Scorecard represents the Government’s first opportunity to report publicly on the overall results achieved so far.
== The One-for-One Rule ==
=== Our commitment ===
<blockquote style="background-color: lightblue; border: solid thin grey;">“Our One-for-One Rule puts a permanent control on the size and cost of administrative burden on business.”
Tony Clement
President of the Treasury Board
April 24, 2013</blockquote>Canada’s business community is concerned that without an effective way of controlling the growth of administrative burden stemming from regulation, this burden will steadily grow and will directly affect the cost of doing business in Canada.
In January 2012, the Government of Canada announced that it would implement a One-for-One Rule to target and control the growth of administrative burden (i.e., the time and resources spent by business to show compliance with government regulation) that regulations impose on business. Experience from other jurisdictions, such as the United Kingdom, strongly suggests that such a rule can be an effective way of freeing businesses from unnecessary and frustrating regulatory red tape.
The One-for-One Rule, which came into force on April 1, 2012, is imposing a new discipline across the federal regulatory system. Through the Rule, regulators are controlling administrative burden and eliminating outdated regulations in two ways:
* When a new or amended regulation increases the administrative burden on business (an “in”), regulators are required to offset—from their existing regulations—an equal amount of administrative burden cost on business (an “out”).
* Regulators must remove an old regulation every time they introduce a brand new regulation that imposes new administrative burden on business.
Under the Rule, regulators have two years to provide administrative burden relief that is at least equal to any new burden imposed through a regulatory change. The value of the administrative burden cost increases or decreases and the underlying cost assumptions are made public in the Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement (RIAS<sup>3</sup>) when the regulatory change is published in the ''[https://canadagazette.gc.ca/accueil-home-eng.html Canada Gazette]''.
=== Summary of results: 2012–2013 ===
==== Government-wide results ====
<blockquote style="background-color: lightblue; border: solid thin grey;">'''Administrative burden''' includes “planning, collecting, processing and reporting of information, and completing forms and retaining data required by the federal government to comply with a regulation.”
- TBS’s Guide for the One-for-One Rule</blockquote>During its first year of implementation, the One-for- One Rule successfully controlled the growth of administrative burden on business imposed through regulation. A strong supporting infrastructure within government and a solid commitment to implement the Rule were key to this success. The Government even managed to reduce the overall regulatory burden by about $3 million (see Graph 3.1). It is also estimated that the application of the Rule will save businesses 98,000 hours annually in time spent dealing with regulatory red tape.
The Rule also provided an opportunity for regulators to reduce the number of outdated regulations currently on the books while continuing to preserve the health, safety, security, and environment of Canadians. For example, Public Safety Canada [https://canadagazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2012/2012-12-19/html/sor-dors262-eng.html repealed regulations] that impose outdated rules on individuals and businesses that sponsor or participate in gun shows. By the end of 2012–2013, a net of six regulations had been eliminated under the Rule.
It should be noted that progress under the Rule has continued in 2013–2014 with a cumulative reduction in administrative burden of almost $20 million and a net reduction of 19 regulations as of December 12, 2013.
[[File:Graph 3.1 – Government-wide balance under the One-for-One Rule as of March 31, 2013.jpg|center|thumb|The administrative burden balances under the One-for-One Rule as of March 31, 2013, are: OUTs - $3,460,459; INs - $533,191; Net Balance - $2,927,268]]
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