Audit of the Regulatory Development Process: chapter 1

Executive summary

The Audit of the Regulatory Development Process was included in the Audit and Evaluation Branch (AEB) 2013 Integrated Risk-Based Audit and Evaluation Plan, as approved by the Deputy Minister, upon recommendation of the External Audit Advisory Committee (EAAC).

The objectives of this audit were to assess whether Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC):

• Follows a rigorous process that complies with government policies and respects ECCC World Class Regulator criteria for the choice of instrument and the regulatory development process;
• Has an effective regulatory management process in place to meet the Department's regulatory objectives.

ECCC is one of the Federal Government's most active regulators with an increasingly important role as the volume and complexity of regulations has grown significantly over the last decade. ECCC also maintains a good reputation among departments for its regulatory development process and tools.

Overall, the audit found that ECCC has implemented and respects a rigorous regulatory development process by following its Quality Management System (QMS) Process for the Development and Publication of Regulations in ECCC which details regulatory steps. The Department also complies with the Cabinet Directive on Regulatory Management (CDRM).

The management of the regulatory development as a whole in the Department works well but there is an opportunity for improving the planning and reporting on regulations. While there are a number of useful planning and reporting practices and elements in place, the Department does not have a comprehensive planning and reporting process that would more systematically report progress and results against an overall regulation development plan, and help mitigate the risk that the Department would not produce timely regulations.

The World Class Regulator (WCR) criteria are generally followed; however, there is some lack of clarity about the role of the initiative and its value-added for ECCC.

To address the findings outlined in this report, the AEB makes the following recommendations:

Recommendation 1:

The Assistant Deputy Minister - Environmental Protection Branch, in consultation with other involved branches, should review the current regulation development process in order to determine whether its effectiveness could be enhanced through a more consolidated approach to regulatory planning and reporting of progress.

Recommendation 2:

The Assistant Deputy Minister - Environmental Protection Branch should re-evaluate the role and the value-added of the World Class Regulator initiative. This action should inform the decision on the future form and/or continued relevance of the initiative.

Management response:

Management agrees with the recommendations and management action plans have been developed to address the findings.