2017-2018 Service Fees Report

PDF   2017-18 Service Fees Report (PDF)

ISSN 2562-1173

The Honourable David Lametti, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada


Table of Contents

Chief Administrator’s message

On behalf of the Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada (ATSSC), I am pleased to present the 2017 to 2018 Report on Fees.

On June 22, 2017, the Service Fees Act received royal assent, thereby repealing the User Fees Act.

The Service Fees Act introduces a modern legislative framework that enables cost-effective delivery of services and, through enhanced reporting to Parliament, improved transparency and oversight. The act provides for:

  • a streamlined approach to consultation and the approval of new or modified fees
  • a requirement for services to have service standards and reporting against these standards, along with a policy to remit fees to fee payers when standards are not met
  • an automatic annual fee adjustment by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to ensure that fees keep pace with inflation
  • annual detailed reporting to Parliament in order to increase transparency

This 2017 to 2018 Fees Report is the first report to be prepared under the Service Fees Act. The report includes new information such as a detailed listing of all fees along with future year fee amounts. Additional fee information will be included starting next fiscal year, once the ATSSC fully transitions to the Service Fees Act regime.

I welcome the increased transparency and oversight that the Service Fees Act’s reporting regime embodies, and I am fully committed to transitioning my department to this modern framework.

Marie-France Pelletier

General fees information

The tables that follow provide information on each category of fees, including:

  • the name of the fee category
  • the date that the fee (or fee category) was introduced and last amended (if applicable)
  • service standards
  • performance results against these standards
  • financial information regarding total costs, total revenues and remissions

In addition to the information presented by fee category, there is a summary of the financial information for all fees as well as a listing of fees under the department’s authority. This listing includes the existing fee dollar amounts and the adjusted dollar fee amount for a future year.

General and financial information by fee category

General information
Fee category Fees for processing requests filed under the Access to Information Act (ATIA)
Fee-setting authority Access to Information ActI
Year introduced 1983
Year last amended 2006
Service standard Compliance with statutory deadlines is defined by responses provided within 30 days following receipt of requests. The response time may be legally extended pursuant to section 9 of the ATIA. A notice of extension is sent within 30 days after receipt of request. The ATIA provides more complete details.
Performance results Of the 18 requests completed during the reporting period, 17 were completed within the statutory timeframe.
Other information Fees collected and waived under the ATIA are detailed in the organization’s Annual Report to Parliament on the Administration of the ATIAii.
Financial information (dollars)
2016 to 2017 Revenue 2017 to 2018 Revenue 2017 to 2018 Cost* 2017 to 2018 Remissions
$45 $30 $147,482 Not applicable

* The amount includes direct and indirect costs, where such costs are identifiable and material. In 2017-18, 23 formal requests were received by the ATSSC under the Access to Information Act. Additionally, the ATSSC’s ATIP Office received 43 consultation requests from other government departments as well as 19 informal requests. During the reporting period, 18 formal requests were closed. A total of 12 requests were carried forward to 2018-19. As for the $5 application fee which composes the $30 revenue presented for 2017-18, it is important to note that in certain cases this fee was waived as a duty to accommodate the applicant. The reported amount includes the costs for processing claims whether fees were collected or waived under the ATIA.

A remission is a partial or full return of a fee paid. Under the Service Fees Act, departments are required to develop policies that determine when fees will be remitted to fee payers should service standards not be met. The requirement for departments to remit is anticipated to come into effect on March 31, 2020. This effective date allows departments time to develop remissions policies and adjust service standard tracking and remittance systems. During fiscal year 2017 to 2018, some departments may have issued remissions, in accordance with the authority of their enabling legislation or regulation, as opposed to the authority given by the Service Fees Act. It is remissions issued under enabling legislations or regulations that are shown above.

Endnotes

i Access to Information Act, http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/A-1/index.html

ii Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada, https://www.canada.ca/en/administrative-tribunals-support-service/reports.html

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