Administrative Burden Baseline Count

In its Red Tape Reduction Action Plan, the Government committed to build on the efforts of the Paperwork Burden Reduction Initiative by requiring departments, through the Administrative Burden Baseline, to provide a count of the requirements in federal regulations that impose an administrative burden on business.

All federal regulations that are administered by the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (the Agency) that have requirements that impose administrative burdens on business are identified below. The Agency’s total Administrative Burden Baseline Count is 325, which is unchanged since the last annual update. The total June 30th, 2014, baseline count was 89.

The Information and Management of Time Limits Regulations (IMTLR) is the only Statutory Order and Regulation (SOR) instrument, registered under the Statutory Instruments Act, made under the Impact Assessment Act (IAA) that imposes administrative burdens. The IMTLR came into force on August 28, 2019, and prescribes a number of elements that enable the new impact assessment system to function and enhance clarity, transparency and predictability in the process. This regulation has an overall benefit to proponents, Indigenous communities, stakeholders and the Canadian public. The main benefits result from the added predictability for the process, the new guidelines and plans the Agency is required to deliver, and from the initial Project Description submitted by proponents.

On June 4, 2020, the Regulations Respecting Excluded Physical Activities (Newfoundland and Labrador Exploratory Wells), made pursuant to paragraph 112(1)(a.2) of the IAA, came into force. With this Ministerial Regulation, offshore oil and gas exploratory drilling projects are exempt from federal impact assessment requirements if they are proposed in an area for which a regional assessment has been carried out and when the project is in conformity with the conditions for exemption set out in the Ministerial Regulation. Some of the conditions included in the regulation impose administrative burdens to operators of exploratory wells and are included in the Agency’s Administrative Burden count; however, projects which comply with the requirements of the regulation are not required to undergo project-specific assessments, thus reducing time and burden on proponents. Further, many of the regulatory conditions reflect conditions that were previously imposed following project-specific assessments, under different legislative authorities.

Previous years’ counts for the Agency are available upon request.

Contact

Sarah Jackson
Director, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs
160 Elgin Street, 22nd floor
Ottawa, ON K1A 0H3
Tel.: 613-513-6713
E-mail: regulations-reglements@iaac-aeic.gc.ca

For more information:

• Government-Wide Forward Regulatory Plans
• The Cabinet Directive on Regulation
• The Red Tape Reduction Action Plan
• The Canada–United States Regulatory Cooperation Council

To learn about upcoming or ongoing consultations on proposed federal regulations, visit the Canada Gazette.