Regulatory Experimentation Expense Fund draft

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Project Eligibility

The Regulatory Experimentation Expense Fund (REEF) supports federal regulators in innovating or facilitating innovation in the marketplace by experimenting with:

• Innovative approaches to any stage of the regulatory lifecycle, including problem definition, choosing regulatory instruments, developing regulations, administering and enforcing them, and review / evaluating their effectiveness.
• Market innovations, such as: new products, business models, and services.

All stages of regulatory experimentation are supported, including:

• Determining if an experiment is the right approach
• Developing a regulatory experiment (e.g., defining its scope, determining evidence needs, planning the experimental process, and selecting data collection methods)
• Conducting a regulatory experiment

New this year: Expressions of interest are now accepted for Impact Canada challenge prize, a type of innovation contest where the winner is awarded a prize, for challenges intended to inform regulatory development.

The REEF is open to all Government of Canada regulators. Priority given to collaborative experiments with regulated entities or businesses.

What can the REEF offer?

Regulators can receive:

• Financial Support: Up to $1,400,000 per fiscal year, with multi-year funding available, to cover experimentation expenses.
  • The funds are transferred to departments as operational funds (O&M) on a cost recovery basis
  • Note: Funds cannot be used to award a financial prize for an Impact Canada challenge prize. Prize awards require grants and contribution from the applicant.
• Technical Support: Expert advice and guidance to help you navigate your specific regulatory context

The REEF Process

Step 1: Informal Consultation

Before submitting an EOI, applicants are encouraged to consult informally with the CRI to confirm project eligibility. Please contact us by emailing us at cri-cir@tbs-sct.gc.ca

NOTE: When contacting us for challenge prize projects, please let us know in your email so that we can include our partner from PCO Impact Canada as part of the informal consultation.

Step 2: Expression of Interest

Submit a Expression of Interest (EOI) to determine project eligibility. EOIs should be brief and should only take a few hours to complete.

Any Government of Canada regulator may apply for funding. Priority will be given to experiments where regulators have identified collaboration with regulated entities or other businesses with the aim of bringing applications of new and emerging technologies into the Canadian marketplace or enhancing competitiveness.

EOIs should be submitted by email to cri-cir@tbs-sct.gc.ca. The CRI will contact applicants as required if clarifications on the proposed experiment or pre-experimentation project are needed.

Step 3: Proposal Submission

• Successful EOI applicants will be invited to complete a full proposal.
• Before developing a proposal, applicants should obtain the support of their Director General or above.
• The CRI supports applicants throughout the proposal development process.
• Regulators should refer to the Regulators' Experimentation Toolkit to assist in identifying, designing, and carrying out regulatory experiments and sandboxes.

Proposals will be assessed, and final funding decisions will be determined by an interdepartmental Steering Committee, made up of representatives from TBS, Privy Council Office, Innovation Science and Economic Development, Transport Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Health Canada, and the Community of Federal Regulators.

Step 4: Proposal Assessment

Proposals will be assessed, and final funding decisions will be determined by an interdepartmental Steering Committee, made up of representatives from TBS, Privy Council Office, Innovation Science and Economic Development, Transport Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Health Canada, and the Community of Federal Regulators.

The Committee will make final funding decisions.

Step 5: Funding Decision

• Funding will be available from April 2025 upon completion of a MOU with the successful applicant and TBS and is made available on a cost recovery basis.
• Regular reporting required (financial forecast, progress, and final reports)
• Project departments will be expected to submit scheduled invoices to TBS to recover the expenses incurred as well as submitting financial forecast to allow TBS to decommit the funds that the department no longer plans on recovering.

Project Updates and Communication

Once a project is approved and the MOU is signed, we update the wiki with the project's name and a brief description (found below). Upon project completion, we create a project one-pager that is also uploaded to our CRI Supported Projects - wiki (gccollab.ca).

We occasionally give presentations to various departments and agencies to raise awareness of our work. These presentations may include information on currently funded or previously funded projects. Before including any project details, we reach out to the project lead for content verification.

Application Documents

• REEF Guide
• Regulators' Experimentation Toolkit
• Expression of Interest (EOI) Template
• Proposal Template

REEF Ongoing Projects

Department/Agency	Project Title	Project Description
Transport Canada (TC)	Light Sport Aircraft	This experiment as proposed by TC involves setting up a sandbox to determine if Light Sport Aircraft, with appropriate conditions, are as reliable as other aircraft currently being used for the purpose of flight training and if the quality of training is as good, or better, than other aircraft currently used for pilot training. The experiment will also inform Transport Canada on potential additional conditions/measures that should be included in future exemptions or regulatory amendments.
Health Canada (HC)	Advanced Therapeutic Products Framework for CAR-T Products Manufactured at the Point of Care	The objective of the project is to test the use of a co-creation process to develop tailored requirements for a regulatory sandbox for HC's Advanced Therapeutic Products pathway, for CAR-T products manufactured at point of care.
Transport Canada (TC)
Transport Canada (TC)
Click here to see a list of the CRI's completed projects and experimentation reports