Rescission of four Treasury Board policy instruments and publication of a new Data Reference Standard

Date: 2024-05-08

From: Chief Information Officer of the Government of Canada

To: Departmental Chief Information Officers and Chief Data Officers

Subject: Rescission of four Treasury Board policy instruments and publication of a new Data Reference Standard

Message:

Colleagues,

The Office of the Chief Information Officer of Canada (OCIO) periodically reviews instruments under the Policy on Service and Digital (PSD) as part of ongoing efforts to update and simplify digital policies and reduce administrative burden.

Following a recent review, the following four policy instruments have been rescinded to reduce duplication and update the policy suite:

1. Directive on the Business Number (2018),
2. TBITS 30: Business Number - Implementation Criteria (1996),
3. PIN – Direction on Enabling Access to Web Services (2018), and
4. TBITS 25: Materiel Coding - Implementation Criteria (1993).

In parallel to the rescission of the Directive on the Business Number and TBITS 30, I am pleased to announce the publication of a new GC Enterprise Data Reference Standard (DRS) on the Business Number (BN), with the effective date of May 7, 2024. The DRS is intended to ensure that departments and agencies use the BN as the standard identifier for all transactions between businesses and the GC, thereby improving data interoperability in support of service delivery. I would like to thank Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and Canada Revenue Agency for their leadership in bringing forward the Standard and for their continued effort in its maintenance. This initiative is an important achievement in support of the Federal Data Strategy (2023–2026).

I encourage you to share these updates with designated officials and colleagues across your organization. My team will continue working with departments and agencies to support the implementation of the Policy on Service and Digital.

Should you have any questions, please send your email to: ServiceDigital-ServicesNumerique@tbs-sct.gc.ca.

Thank you for your continued support,

Dominic Rochon (He/Him)
Chief Information Officer of Canada
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat