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

This policy outlines Environment and Climate Change Canada’s (ECCC) approach to helping regulated parties understand their regulatory obligations.

Departmental context

ECCC administers over 70 regulations to help ensure Canada’s air and water remain clean, that wildlife and habitats are conserved, and that the health of Canadians is protected in every region of the country.

To help the department apply its regulations in a fair, predictable and consistent manner, ECCC has developed the following compliance and enforcement policies for its major legislation:

Consistent with the department’s goal to achieve regulatory excellence, ECCC will do its best to facilitate awareness and clear understanding of its regulatory requirements. The following describes the department’s commitments in the areas of building awareness, service, and stakeholder engagement. These commitments build on existing government-wide commitments respecting communications and service to Canadians, and values and ethics for the public sector.

Building an awareness of regulatory requirements

ECCC will:

Responding to enquiries

ECCC officials will:

ECCC does not provide legal advice about how specific regulations may apply to particular circumstances.

Commitment to professional service

Stakeholder engagement

Date of last revision of this policy

This policy was last updated on March 31, 2019.

Consult ECCC’s acts and regulations web page for:

Consult the following for links to the Cabinet Directive on Regulation and supporting policies and guidance, and for information on government-wide regulatory initiatives implemented by departments and agencies across the Government of Canada:

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

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