Acts and regulations: Environment and Climate Change Canada

What are we doing?

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) administers acts and regulations, and implements government-wide regulatory initiatives.

Note: A new online commenting feature is available for all stakeholders wishing to send comments on proposed regulations published in the Canada Gazette.

Acts and regulations

The department is responsible for administering certain federal acts and regulations.

Access these federal acts and regulations at the following link(s):

  • Acts administered by the department
  • Regulations administered by the department
Planned or anticipated changes to regulations (Forward Regulatory Plan, Regulatory Stock Review Plan, Targeted Regulatory Review Roadmaps)

The Forward Regulatory Plan lists ECCC’s planned or anticipated federal regulatory changes over 24 months.

The Regulatory Stock Review Plan is a review of ECCC's entire regulatory stock over a set period of time. It includes:

  • regulations to be reviewed, prioritized in a way that makes sense to the regulator and stakeholders
  • a time frame for the review(s)

ECCC participated in the Government of Canada’s 2019-2021 Targeted Regulatory Reviews (Round 2) to identify and address regulatory barriers to economic growth and innovation. These reviews resulted in Roadmaps on the following three themes:

Updates on progress in implementing these roadmaps were released:

Additional information on updates can be found on the Treasury Board Secretariat Regulatory Reviews webpage.

Timeliness service standards and performance information

Environment and Climate Change Canada publishes timeliness service standards and performance information for its services, including services for regulated parties to obtain regulatory authorization such as a permit or license to engage in a regulated activity.

View timeliness service standards and performance information.

How guidance on regulatory requirements is provided (Policy on Providing Guidance on Regulatory Requirements)

Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Policy on Providing Guidance on Regulatory Requirements:

  • outlines the commitments, practices and tools that Environment and Climate Change Canada applies when providing Canadians and businesses with information and guidance on regulatory obligations to be met
  • identifies the conditions under which written responses to questions will be provided

View the department’s Policy on Providing Guidance on Regulatory Requirements.

Number of administrative burden requirements in regulations (Administrative Burden Baseline initiative)

The Administrative Burden Baseline initiative requires departments and agencies to:

  • establish a baseline count of federal regulatory requirements that impose administrative burden on business
  • annually update and report publicly on the count of baseline requirements

View the number of administrative burden requirements in regulations administered by Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Other regulatory information

All of the Government of Canada’s acts and regulations can be found on the Justice Laws website.

For more information on the Cabinet Directive on Regulation and supporting policies and guidance, and for government-wide regulatory initiatives:

To learn about upcoming or ongoing consultations on proposed federal regulations, visit:

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