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Regulatory Experimentation Expense Fund draft

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Deadline
Expressions of Interest (EOIs) for the Regulatory Experimentation Expense Fund (REEF) will be accepted until November 21st, 2025.

What is the REEF?

The Regulatory Experimentation Expense Fund (REEF) supports federal regulators using experimentation and sandboxes to test:

  • Innovative approaches to reduce red tape at any stage of the regulatory lifecycle
  • Removing regulatory barriers to industry innovations getting to market (e.g., 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
  • Conducting a regulatory experiment

The REEF is open to all Government of Canada regulators.

What the REEF Offers:

💰
Financial Support

The REEF provides funding for expenditures necessary for proposed regulatory experiments or pre-experiments, including project implementation and administration costs. The total funding envelope is $1,200,000 per fiscal year.

Important Update: Due to ongoing multi-year projects, the available funding for 2026-2027 is approx. $650,000. Early consultation is recommended.

*The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat reserves the right to make the final determination on eligible expenditures.

🤝
Technical Support

The REEF offers expert advice and guidance from the Centre for Regulatory Innovation team. We can help you navigate your specific regulatory context, develop a robust project design, and connect you with the right partners and resources to ensure your experiment is a success.

Eligibility Criteria

🧪

1. Regulatory Experimentation

The project must involve regulatory experimentation by either:

  • Conducting a regulatory experiment or sandbox, or
  • Undertaking pre-experimentation activities, such as determining if an experiment is the right approach or developing an experimental design.
🔎

2. Problem or Opportunity

The project must address at least one of the following:

  • A defined industry need
  • A technological challenge
  • A market opportunity
💡

3. Innovation

The project must be about supporting innovation by:

  • Testing innovative regulatory approaches, or
  • Exploring ways to remove barriers to innovation in the marketplace.
Get Started with REEF

Step 1: Consult with Us
Discuss your project idea with the CRI team to confirm eligibility before you write.

Step 2: Submit Your EOI
Ready to apply? Download the template and submit it by the deadline.

[PLACEHOLDER] Project Eligibility Self-Assessment

Use our AI EOI Self-Assessment Guide to get early feedback on project eligibility and help draft your EOI.


Disclaimer: This is a self-assessment tool. The AI-generated feedback is for your benefit and does not guarantee funding. All final decisions are made by a human evaluation committee.


The Process

The REEF process involves several key stages, from initial consultation to project completion. For full details on each step, please see below.

 
Step Description
1. Informal Consultation

Before submitting an EOI, consult with the CRI at cri-cir@tbs-sct.gc.ca to confirm project eligibility.

2. Expression of Interest Submission
3. CRI Assesses Expression of Interest

Review Period: After the submission deadline, the CRI team will provide feedback on submitted EOIs, and applicants may be asked to update or clarify aspects of their EOI. This iterative process ensures all EOIs are as strong as possible before final assessment.

Due to high demand, not all eligible EOI will be invited to submit full proposals. The criteria included in section 4 of the EOI will be used to determine the priority of projects.

4. Proposal Submission
5. Funding Decision

For proposal assessment, the SC will consider:

  • Public Benefits: Extent to which Canadians will benefit from the experiment's learnings
  • Viability: Likelihood of delivering sought learnings, including risk assessment and mitigation
  • Alignment with Fund Objective: How well the proposal aligns with the overall goals of the REEF
6. Memorandum of Understanding
  • CRI works with the applicant to develop and finalize an MOU
  • MOU outlines conditions of funding, reporting requirements, and committed funds
7. Reporting

1. Regular Reporting

Applicants must submit financial forecasts and progress reports to the CRI as outlined in the MOU. This ensures transparency and tracks the project's status and use of funds.

2. Final Report

At the end of the project, provide a final report summarizing the key learnings and outcomes.

8. Lessons Learned and Knowledge Sharing
  • CRI organizes opportunities to share and discuss learnings with interested audiences
  • CRI prepares and publishes a report summarizing key lessons learned from regulatory experiments
  • Presentations may be given to raise awareness, with project lead verification for any project details

Application Documents

Document Description
Regulators' Experimentation Toolkit Toolkit for regulatory experiments and sandboxes
Expression of Interest (EOI) Template Template for submitting initial interest

Ongoing Projects

For examples of current successful REEF projects, expand the table below.

Department/Agency Project Title Project Description
Transport Canada (TC) Light Sport Aircraft

Transport Canada is conducting a regulatory experiment to assess the suitability of Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) for use in flight training. The project aims to evaluate LSA certified by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency in Canadian flight training environments. Working with selected flight schools, Transport Canada will gather data on aircraft performance, reliability, and training quality. The experiment seeks to inform potential updates to regulations, potentially allowing more modern and environmentally friendly aircraft options for pilot training while maintaining safety standards.

Health Canada (HC) Advanced Therapeutic Products Framework for CAR-T Products

Health Canada is developing a regulatory sandbox for Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy products manufactured at the point of care. This experiment aims to test a co-creation process for developing tailored regulatory requirements under Health Canada's Advanced Therapeutic Products pathway. The project will involve collaboration with various stakeholders to design market access authorization requirements for these innovative cancer treatments. The goal is to create an adaptive regulatory framework that maintains safety standards while facilitating faster access to new therapies.

Canada Energy Regulator (CER) Assessing Compliance of Potential New Requirements to Prevent and Address Impacts to Indigenous Rights and Interests: A Regulatory Experiment

The Canada Energy Regulator (CER) is conducting a regulatory experiment to develop and test new requirements for preventing and addressing impacts to Indigenous rights and interests related to energy infrastructure projects. The experiment aims to enhance Indigenous involvement in compliance verification and oversight processes. Using a co-creation approach with Indigenous communities and other stakeholders, the CER will develop tailored regulatory requirements and test a joint compliance verification process. The project seeks to strengthen measures to protect Indigenous rights while informing updates to CER's regulatory framework.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) Facilitating Industry Collaboration to Streamline Regulatory Pathways for Novel Fertilizers

Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in collaboration with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), aims to streamline regulatory pathways for novel fertilizers in Canada. The project will test an industry-developed prioritization matrix to identify key ingredients for potential exemption from registration, potentially reducing the backlog of premarket applications. It will evaluate the effectiveness of allocating CFIA resources towards expanding the List of Materials (LOM) and explore industry collaboration in prioritizing materials and developing application packages. By comparing the costs and efficiency of adding materials to the LOM versus reviewing individual registration applications, the project seeks to inform strategies for reducing regulatory burdens while maintaining safety standards. This approach could lead to faster market access for novel fertilizers, supporting agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability in Canada.

Transport Canada (TC) Enabling Commercial Space Launch in Canada Transport Canada (TC) is using a regulatory sandbox to test and refine an interim regulatory regime that enables commercial space launch activities in Canada in a safe and secure manner. In the sandbox, TC will authorize Canadian companies to conduct space launches to help evaluate TC’s launch authorization requirements, review process and oversight approach. This project will help inform the development of a permanent regulatory framework that enables growth in the commercial space launch industry in Canada, while ensuring their activities are safe and secure.
Transport Canada (TC) Establishing a Battery Electric and Hydrogen-Powered Locomotive Regulatory Sandbox (in support of Rail Safety and Decarbonization)

Transport Canada (TC) is using a regulatory sandbox to develop and test standards requirements for new hydrogen and battery-powered locomotives that foster industry innovation while maintaining safety. In the sandbox, rail companies will comply with the standards requirements in real world operations to help TC evaluate standards burden, inspection outcomes, and the impact on innovation. This project will help inform the development of a permanent regulatory regime that allows Canadian companies the flexibility to develop these new locomotives, while ensuring they are used safely.

View list of completed projects and experimentation reports


Questions?

If you have any questions, please contact the CRI at cri-cir@tbs-sct.gc.ca.


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