Red Tape Reduction Commission

Prime Minister Stephen Harper launched the Red Tape Reduction Commission (RTRC) in January 2011, fulfilling a commitment made in Budget 2010. The Prime Minister asked the RTRC to identify irritants to businesses – provisions with clear detrimental effects on growth, competitiveness and innovation. The RTRC was also asked to recommend ways to address those irritants and reduce the compliance burden.

To meet this challenge, the RTRC carried out an extensive set of online and in-person consultations with businesses and business groups across Canada. The RTRC’s What Was Heard Report, issued in September 2011, captures the feedback received through these consultations. The consultations identified approximately 2,300 specific regulatory irritants, causing unnecessary cost and frustration.

The RTRC has now issued its Recommendations Report to the Government on January 18, 2012. This report provides specific advice to departments and agencies about reducing unnecessary business burdens on a lasting basis, without compromising the environment or the health and safety of Canadians.

In response to the RTRC report, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) is developing up-to-date forms and guidance material for licensees, enabling them to access all the information needed to submit their Annual Compliance Reports; the CNSC will also implement an online system (ACR on-line), to promote timeliness, improve predictability and address capacity issues for small businesses. This project will help reduce administrative efforts for more than 2,700 companies currently licensed by the CNSC to use nuclear substances and prescribed equipment in medical, industrial, research and academic applications. The anticipated roll-out for the ACR online project is scheduled for September, 2012.