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Reducing Regulatory Costs for Business Act, 2017

ONTARIO REGULATION 491/17

GENERAL

Historical version for the period December 15, 2017 to December 31, 2017.

Note: THIS REGULATION IS NOT YET IN FORCE. It comes into force on January 1, 2018, the day section 1 of Schedule 4 to the Cutting Unnecessary Red Tape Act, 2017 comes into force.

No amendments.

This is the English version of a bilingual regulation.

Interpretation, specified regulation

1. In this Regulation,

“specified regulation” means a regulation that meets the definition of “regulation governed by this Act” in subsection 1 (1) of the Act.

Administrative cost

2. (1) A cost is prescribed for the purposes of the definition of “administrative cost” in subsection 1 (1) of the Act if the cost meets one of the following criteria:

1. The cost is incurred by a business as a direct result of complying with a requirement in a regulation to complete an administrative task, including requirements relating to the collecting, processing, reporting and retaining of information and the completion of forms.

2. The cost is incurred by a business in relation to an administrative task associated with complying with a regulation, including tasks associated with the collecting, processing, reporting and retaining of information and the completion of forms.

(2) The administrative cost resulting from a specified regulation shall be measured as the average annual amount of the new annual administrative cost created or the average annual increase to an existing administrative cost, as the case may be, that is anticipated to be incurred by business.

Restriction, offset of administrative cost

3. No offset of an administrative cost may be made under section 2 of the Act by a regulation made by the Lieutenant Governor in Council if the Executive Council determines that the making of the regulation would not be in the public interest.

Prescribed offsets

4. (1) A prescribed offset in respect of the administrative cost resulting from a specified regulation shall achieve an average annual reduction in costs of an amount equal to 125 per cent of the administrative cost.

(2) The reduction referred to in subsection (1) must be in respect of any of the following:

1. Administrative costs.

2. Direct costs of complying with a regulation, other than administrative costs, which may include fees, upfront capital costs, upfront operating costs and ongoing operating costs.

(3) An offset may be made by,

(a) in the case of an offset achieved through the making of a regulation, the coming into force of the regulation on or after January 1, 2018; or

(b) in the case of an offset achieved through a mechanism other than the making of a regulation, the implementation of the mechanism on or after January 1, 2018.

(4) A prescribed offset in respect of an administrative cost resulting from a specified regulation shall be made no later than 24 months following the day on which the specified regulation is made.

Exemptions, offsets

5. (1) In this section, a reference to a specified regulation means a specified regulation that has the effect of creating or increasing one or more administrative costs.

(2) The requirement under section 2 of the Act to make a prescribed offset in respect of a specified regulation does not apply in any of the following circumstances:

1. The specified regulation is made in response to an emergency that requires extraordinary measures to address an urgent matter affecting the public interest, including health, safety or the environment.

2. The specified regulation is made to implement legal obligations or inter-jurisdictional commitments, including a specified regulation in relation to the imposition of international sanctions or court decisions.

3. The public disclosure of the administrative costs resulting from the specified regulation would cause financially sensitive information to be disclosed, which could cause hurt or prejudice to individuals, businesses or the government.

Analysis of regulatory impact

6.  (1) For the purposes of clause 3 (a) of the Act, the prescribed circumstances are that the proposed regulation would affect business.

(2) For the purposes of clause 3 (b) of the Act, the analysis consisting of the administrative costs calculation shall be published on a website of the Government of Ontario.

Exemptions, analysis

7. (1) A Minister responsible for the administration of a specified regulation is exempt from the requirements set out in section 3 of the Act in respect of the specified regulation if one of the following circumstances applies:

1. The specified regulation would amend another regulation for the sole purpose of addressing non-substantive matters, including matters relating to translation, correction of errors and increasing accessibility.

2. The specified regulation would be made in response to an emergency that requires extraordinary measures to address an urgent matter affecting the public interest, including health, safety or the environment.

(2) A Minister responsible for the administration of a specified regulation is exempt from the requirement to publish the analysis under clause 3 (b) of the Act if the public disclosure of the analysis of regulatory impacts resulting from the specified regulation would cause financially sensitive information to be disclosed, which could cause hurt or prejudice to individuals, businesses or the government.

8. Omitted (provides for coming into force of provisions of this Regulation).