CAVCO Public Notice 2024-02

Gatineau, March 28, 2024

Conversion of CAVCO’s Service Standard from Business to Calendar Days

The purpose of this public notice is to inform clients and stakeholders that, effective April 1, 2024, the Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office (CAVCO) will be reporting its service standard in calendar days, instead of business days. The service standard for processing applications to the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit (CPTC) and the Film or Video Production Services Tax Credit (PSTC) programs will be 176 calendar days, which is equivalent, on average, to the previous service standard of 120 business days. The performance target to process 85 percent of all applications within the service standard remains unchanged.

Setting the service standard in calendar days is intended to make it easier for applicants to understand, visualize and calculate when they may expect their production to be certified. Other organizations administering film or television production tax credits in Canada set their service standards in calendar days.
When accounting for weekends and holidays, 176 calendar days is equivalent, on average, to the previous service standard of 120 business days.

CAVCO received five comments, and respondents agreed or were noncommittal towards the initiative to convert to calendar days. The consensus expressed was that the conversion itself does not change the service standards in their current form but is only a translation from business to calendar days.
Most respondents expressed an interest in CAVCO’s upcoming comprehensive review of its service standards and development of a fee remissions policy to comply with the Service Fees Act.
Some commentators provided suggestions that were outside the scope of the calendar-day conversion. These included, for example, increasing the performance target for meeting the service standard, including the registration intake period in the days counted and reducing the time applications spend in the registration intake step. Such suggestions will be taken into consideration in the next phase of the service standard review.

Anyone with questions about this public notice may contact CAVCO by email (bcpac-cavco@pch.gc.ca) or by phone (1-888-433-2200).