The Disposal at Sea Program Remissions Approach

1. Effective date

This policy is intended to be read in conjunction with the Environment and Climate Chage Canada (ECCC) Departmental Remissions Policy. The Disposal at Sea Program Remissions Approach will take effect on April 1, 2021.

2. Background

The following two fees require an approach to determining whether a service (or performance) standard of the government is not met and whether a remission to the fee payer is warranted:

2.1 Disposal at Sea Application Fee

Pursuant to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), an application for permits authorizing the loading for disposal and disposal of waste or other matter must be accompanied by the prescribed fees.

The Disposal at Sea Regulations, set out the fee that is to accompany an application for a permit. The fee that is to accompany an application for a permit is set at $2,500.

2.2 Disposal at Sea Permit Fee (for Disposal Site Monitoring)

The Disposal at Sea Permit Fee Regulations made under the Financial Administration Act set out the fee that the holder of a permit for the disposal of dredged material or inert inorganic geological matter, granted under section 127 of CEPA, 1999 shall pay to the Receiver General. The fee has been set at $470 for every 1000 cubic metres, or portion thereof, of dredged material or inert inorganic geological matter, that is authorized by the permit to be disposed of at sea. One half of the permit fee must be paid prior to permit publication, and the remainder must be paid at the halfway point of the permit. For example, for a one year permit, one half of the fee would be paid before disposal begins, and the balance would be paid 6 months into permit activities.

2.3 Fees are adjusted yearly as per the Service Fees Act

On April 1, 2019 requirements of the Service Fees Act (SFA) for regular fee increase were implemented by ECCC. From that date forward, on April 1 of each year, fees increase by the amount of the Consumer Price Index of the previous year. These rates are posted on the Disposal at sea website. Fee payers will pay the fees for the application and permit at the rate applicable on the date that the permit application was received.

3. Definitions

Disposal at Sea Program
Means the regulatory program delivered through ECCC responsible for prevention of marine pollution, particularly from the disposal of substances at sea, via a permit system under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 and associated regulations and fees as described above.
Remission
Has the same meaning as in section 5 of the ECCC Remission Policy.
Other
Other terms are also used as defined in section 5 of the ECCCRemission Policy.

4. Scope and application

Table 1 (Disposal at Sea Application Fee) and Table 2 (Disposal at Sea Permit Fee) below present the Disposal at Sea Program approach consistent with section 8 of the ECCC Remission Policy. The tables describe the performance standards, the potential adverse impacts on fee payers of standards not being met and the rates of remission.

4.1 Performance Standards

The Disposal at Sea Application Fee has a service standard set out in regulation. The service standard for the Disposal at Sea Permit Fee is not regulated. For both performance standards, the timeline starts when the program has all of the information needed to provide the service. For example in Table 1,one of the standards involves assessing a permit application and making a permit decision within 90 days, in exchange for the payer paying an application fee. The program notifies the fee payer when it has received their complete permit application and application fee, and tracks the date on which the notice is sent and the date that the permit decision is made. Where the time between the dates is less than or equal to 90 calendar days, the standard is considered to have been met.

4.2 Determining if timelines are met

In general, the service is to be provided within the number of calendar days listed in Tables 1 and 2 for the performance standard described. There are also several factors that will affect the counting of the time.

A link to the Disposal at Sea Regulations is below that provides the regulated service standard and the regulatory conditions under which the timelines for the Disposal at Sea Application Fee performance standards may be suspended or do not apply.

4.3 Delays resulting from circumstances beyond ECCC’s control

Delays resulting from circumstances beyond ECCC's control will not be counted towards timelines. For instance, if a severe storm disrupts telecommunications for two days, the two days would not be counted as part of the 90 days calculation that the program has in order to reach a permit decision within its performance standard. Other circumstances include floods, pandemics, labour disruptions, unforeseen office closures, and requirements to submit a file for security investigations.

In addition, if information is determined to be missing at any point during the provision of the services for either fee, the fee-payer will be informed of the missing information and the timeline will be paused, then restart once the information has been received. Permit decisions or notifications delayed due to an act or omission of the fee-payer will not count towards the timelines. For instance if the permit applicant pays the fee at the incorrect rate and sends the correct payment five days later, the five days would not be counted as part of the 45 day timelines in Table 2 for notification of a payment received .

4.4 Potential impacts and appropriate remission rates

The policy requires that remissions be issued on a case by case basis, but the analysis that lays out the conditions for, and the amount of, the remissions has been developed based on a general analysis. For example in Table 1, the program has determined that failure to meet the performance standard of making a decision to issue a permit within 90 days of the applicant being advised that their application is complete could have a medium impact on fee payers by delaying their ability to complete their project. Consequently, the program has set a fixed remission rate of 15% . The program estimates a medium impact to the applicant, and sets 15% as a reasonable remission. The program has also considered the degree that this performance standard has been missed so that if the standard for the application fee is missed by more than 45 days, then a 25% remission would be due to the fee payer. Remission rates in Table 1 shown as a percentage represent the percentage of the fee actually paid that will be remitted to the fee payer.

The program estimates that not meeting the performance standard for the Disposal at Sea Permit Fees will have no impact on the fee payer. The Fee payer gets full access to use the disposal site in accordance with the terms of their permit, and is refunded fees for any unused disposal amounts. For this reason, the program has determined a single fixed remission of $50.00 to be reasonable – see Table 2.

Remission rates in these Tables will apply to services rendered after April 1, 2021.

Table 1 – Disposal at Sea Application Fee
Performance Standard Impact on fee-payer of Performance Standard not being met Remission of proportional portion of the Performance Standard not being met

Permit decision within 90 calendar days of the applicant being advised that their application is complete (DSR, ss. 8.2(2)).

Permit renewal decision within 45 calendar days of the applicant being advised that their application is complete (DSR, ss. 8.5(3)).

As certain permit applicants could have financial consequences (contractors and equipment in place) or even safety issues if a permit decision is delayed beyond the standard, a MEDIUM IMPACT is expected that could

Assuming a MEDIUM IMPACT: ECCC will remit to the fee-payer whose performance standards are not met as follows:

Less than 45 calendar days beyond standard: 15%

More than 45 calendar days beyond standard: 25%

Table 2 - Disposal at Sea Permit Fees (for Disposal Site Monitoring)
Performance Standard* Impact on fee-payer of Performance Standard not being met Remission of proportional portion of the Performance Standard not being met
For the Disposal at Sea Permit Application Fee (Site Monitoring) payments, ECCC will issue the permit holder or applicant an acknowledgment of receipt within 45 calendar days of receipt of that payment. As the acknowledgement of receipt of payment does not affect the permit or its validity it has NO IMPACT on the fee-payer. Assuming NO IMPACT on the fee-payer, ECCC will remit $50 to those whose performance standards are not met.

* Administrative service standards for the Disposal at Sea Permit Fee which appeared in the Departmental Results Report (DRR) and on the ECCC Disposal at Sea Web page prior to April 1, 2021 were developed prior to the coming into force of the Service Fees Act and for a different purpose. The performance standard for the Disposal at Sea Permit Fee in the Table 2 above was developed for the purposes of the Service Fees Act and will be in effect as of April 1, 2021.

5. Methods and timing of remissions

5.1 How Performance Standards will be tracked

Each permit application and permit fee payment and each performance standard will be tracked by ECCC (Disposal at Sea Program) and recorded within the disposal at sea data management system. Relevant information will be entered into the system as they are received by ECCC to track if a performance standard has been met or not. ECCC will also enter in the system the dates when the regulatory “stop clocks” are activated and track dates for each permit where there were delays due to factors beyond ECCC’s control or where there were delays brought on by action or inaction of the fee-payer. This information will also be used to adjust the date on which the performance standard has been exceeded.

5.2 How fee-payers information will be retained

Each permit application and permit fee payment and each performance standard will be tracked by ECCC and recorded within the disposal at sea data management system. This system tracks the administrative information sent by the permit applicant and fee-payer to apply for the permit as well as the fees paid and all relevant dates being tracked for performance standards.

5.3 How fee-payers will be contacted

Fee payers will be contacted using the means they used to contact ECCC which is usually via email or by post. Contact information is required as part of the permit application. Government Clients could receive remissions via Interdepartmental Settlement (IS) . General information on ECCC Disposal At Sea Program, including information on the new ECCC Remission Policy will be communicated to fee-payers via ECCC website and may also be sent out as part of regular client mail outs with other information on fee rates etc.

5.4 How and when will remissions be issued

Remissions will be assessed, calculated and sent on a case-by-case basis. As there are two performance standards and several payments throughout the permit term, remissions will be actively tracked, assessed, calculated and sent as soon as feasible following the failure of the standard.

In all cases, if ECCC considers that the performance standard in relation to the fee has not been met in a fiscal year, ECCC will remit, before July 1 of the following fiscal year, the portion of the fee listed in Table 1 and Table 2 above.

5.5 Current reimbursement or refund processes will not be affected

Note that under the current Disposal at Sea Program guidance, applicants for permits are advised that within 30 days of the expiry of the permit or completion of the operations under a dredged material or excavated material permit, they can apply for a refund of Disposal at Sea Permit Fees paid for every unused 1000 cubic metres. This process represents the reimbursement of an over payment for material that was not disposed. It should be further noted that this refunding practice is not related to the remission process and is not associated with performance standards. This process came into effect with the Disposal at Sea Permit Fees and will continue independently and unaffected by this remission policy.

6. Monitoring and reporting

6.1 Monitoring

The application of ECCC’s Disposal At Sea Remission Approach will be reviewed twenty four (24) months after implementation. Subsequent reviews will be done every five years. The review will provide an opportunity for stakeholders and fee payers to provide feedback and will take into account operational performance.

6.2 Reporting

On an annual basis, ECCC is required to develop and publish an Annual Report to Parliament for the Service Fees Act, which reports on each fee charged, remissions that were paid, as well as the department’s performance in meeting its performance standards.

7. Reference documents

  1. Disposal at Sea website including fees tables
  2. Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999
  3. Disposal at Sea Permit Fee Regulations
  4. Disposal at Sea Regulations

8. Inquiries/comments/complaints

For inquiries comments or complaints regarding this document or regarding a particular remission, please contact the Disposal at Sea Program using the contact information below.

Disposal at Sea Remissions
Manager, Marine Programs Division
Environmental Protection Operations Directorate
Environment and Climate Change Canada
351 Boulevard Saint-Joseph
Gatineau, QC K1A 0H3
e-mail: ec.immersionenmer-disposalatsea.ec@canada.ca

For any inquiries regarding the ECCC Remission Policy, including accessing a broader complaint mechanism, please consult the contact person at section 11 of the departmental Policy.

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