Browse regulations

Regulation limits banks' investments in technology and information services to 5% of regulatory capital, prohibiting investments in deposit-taking entities and various other activities, while allowing banks to develop financial-related data systems and platforms.

The 5% cap and activity prohibitions arbitrarily restrict banks' capital deployment, stifling fintech innovation and reducing efficiency. Regulators cannot predict which investments create value; market forces should guide allocation. These restrictions impose compliance costs, limit competitiveness, and create barriers to beneficial technological advancements in financial services.

Authorizes foreign banks (with approval) to develop technology platforms for financial services.

Unnecessary permission requirement adds regulatory burden, stifles fintech innovation, creates barriers to competition, and contributes to brain drain. The approval process assumes prohibition rather than liberty, increasing compliance costs without improving outcomes. Existing general regulations provide sufficient oversight; this layer restricts market freedom and technological progress.

This regulation expands the definition of 'strategic infrastructure' under the Canada Strategic Infrastructure Fund Act to include advanced telecommunications/high-speed broadband infrastructure and all infrastructure in Yukon, NWT, and Nunavut, making these projects eligible for federal funding.

Government-directed infrastructure subsidies distort market signals, misallocate capital, create dependency, and increase tax burdens. The knowledge problem prevents Ottawa from efficiently determining regional infrastructure needs; private markets responding to consumer demand would allocate resources more effectively. This subsidization also fuels interregional inequality by favoring politically connected projects over genuine market demand.

This regulation extends subsections 37.3(1) and (2) of the Public Service Employment Act to Canadian Food Inspection Agency employees in the Operations Branch who perform passenger and initial import inspection services at airports and other border points (excluding import service centres). It specifies that these provisions came into force on December 12, 2003.

The regulation imposes specific public service hiring constraints on CFIA border inspection staff, reducing workforce flexibility and responsiveness. Such constraints likely increase costs and hinder efficient staffing adjustments, with doubtful compensating benefits given that general public service principles or market-based alternatives could ensure competent personnel without rigid rules.

This regulation extends specific employment-related provisions (Public Service Employment Act s.37.3(1)-(2)) to employees in designated customs divisions within the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, specifying which branches and regional units are covered while excluding collections functions.

This obscure 2003 regulation micro-manages internal HR governance, applying employment rules only to specific pre-2003 divisions. Such granularity creates rigidities, adds to the regulatory burden, and likely no longer aligns with current agency structure. Internal administrative matters should be handled through flexible policies, not formal regulations that require amendment to update, reducing organizational agility and contributing to excessive legalism that undermines efficiency in customs operations critical to trade and competitiveness.

Comprehensive safety and environmental regulations for hydrocarbon processing plants, covering design, construction, operation, abandonment, emergency procedures, and ongoing compliance monitoring with detailed technical standards and quality control requirements.

Critical infrastructure safety regulations that protect workers, communities, and the environment from catastrophic failures, toxic releases, and explosions. The technical standards and oversight mechanisms prevent disasters that would cause far greater economic and human costs than compliance overhead.

Exempts Quebec organizations subject to Quebec's privacy law from Part 1 of PIPEDA for personal information handling within Quebec, avoiding duplicate federal oversight.

Deleting this exemption would force Quebec businesses to comply with both provincial and federal privacy regimes for intra-provincial activities, imposing significant duplication costs and regulatory burden without added consumer protection. The exemption reduces administrative overhead and respects provincial jurisdiction, making it easier for enterprises to operate.

This regulation establishes a comprehensive permit system for Canadian activities in Antarctica, requiring extensive documentation including environmental evaluations (preliminary, initial, or comprehensive), waste management and emergency plans, detailed reporting, and imposing a $2M security requirement. It implements Canada's obligations under the Antarctic Treaty System and aims to minimize environmental impacts from scientific research, tourism, and other activities.

The regulation imposes crippling bureaucratic burdens that destroy value: multi-year approval timelines (up to 19 months), massive compliance costs, discretionary permit gatekeeping, and ongoing reporting obligations. It creates artificial barriers to entry that incumbents welcome but stifle innovation, delay scientific discoveries, discourage tourism investment, and prevent Canadians from deploying their capital and talents in Antarctica. The unseen costs are enormous—foregone research breakthroughs, lost entrepreneurial opportunities, and the accumulated knowledge that never gets produced because regulators cannot know better than markets how to balance environmental stewardship with human flourishing. The claimed environmental benefits are speculative and could be achieved through liability rules and private stewardship that don't require an extensive administrative state.

Order granting remission of customs duties to specific companies for products imported for processing, with amounts specified in a schedule and a claim deadline of December 31, 2005.

The regulation is obsolete—its claim deadline expired 21 years ago. Even if still referenced, it represents cronyist intervention by selectively granting tariff exemptions to specific firms, distorting competition and violating equal treatment under law. The unseen costs include maintaining a precedent for government picking winners and creating regulatory uncertainty.

Sets emission standards for off-road engines (spark-ignition, up to 30 kW, 1000 cm³), aligning with US EPA requirements. Covers exhaust, evaporative, and permeation emissions, testing procedures, and conformity evidence. Applies to 2005+ model years, excluding competition, military, and certain specialized engines.

Imposes costly regulatory burden on Canadian manufacturers and consumers while duplicating US EPA standards. Creates unnecessary compliance complexity, restricts market entry for small businesses, and increases equipment prices without clear Canadian-specific environmental benefits. The alignment with US standards suggests it's primarily a trade barrier rather than genuine environmental protection.

Establishes a compliance and investigation framework for the Canadian Payments Association, including procedures for handling complaints, investigations, compliance panels, sanctions, and appeals between members and non-members regarding contraventions of by-laws or rules.

This regulation provides essential due process protections and dispute resolution mechanisms for the payments system, ensuring fair investigations, appeals rights, and proportionate sanctions that protect both individual members and the integrity of the financial system.

A by-law establishing detailed rules for Canada's Automated Clearing Settlement System (ACSS), governing participation, settlement, collateral, default procedures, and operational standards for payment clearing among financial institutions.

This regulation creates barriers to entry that protect incumbents and limit competition, raising costs for consumers. Its mandatory loss-sharing mechanism creates moral hazard by mutualizing risk, distorting price signals and encouraging reckless behavior among participants.

This appears to be a regulation that has been completely repealed as of SOR/2014-176, s. 44. All sections from 1-55 across 13 parts are marked as repealed, indicating the entire regulatory framework is no longer in effect.

The regulation has already been repealed and is obsolete. Maintaining repealed regulations creates unnecessary complexity in the legal code and wastes resources on outdated provisions that serve no current purpose.

This regulation establishes definitions and procedures for customs clearance in Canada, including exceptions for certain travelers, authorized persons, and special programs like CANPASS and NEXUS that allow alternative presentation methods at borders.

The regulation creates unnecessary bureaucracy and costs for border clearance that could be handled more efficiently through market mechanisms. It restricts free movement of people and goods, imposes complex compliance requirements, and creates artificial barriers to trade and travel that harm economic efficiency.

This regulation consists of sections 1, 1.1, and 2, all of which have been repealed by SOR/2015-142, section 2.

This regulation is already repealed and therefore has no current legal effect. It should be removed from active regulatory consideration.