In accordance with the Government of Canada’s Cabinet Directive on Regulatory Management, federal government departments and agencies are responsible for assessing the effectiveness and appropriateness of regulatory and non-regulatory instruments for achieving public policy objectives.

Canadian federal departments and agencies are to:

1. Identify the institutions and parties that should be involved in addressing the public policy issue
2. Identify the appropriate instrument or mix of instruments, including regulatory and non-regulatory measures, and justify their application before submitting a regulatory proposal
3. Consider potential alternatives to regulation, including voluntary standards, information disclosure, and guidelines, and whether outcome or performance-based approaches would be suitable
4. Engage small businesses in alternative approaches to compliance (including costs)
5. Demonstrate that the regulatory response is designed to address policy objectives
6. Demonstrate that the regulatory response is proportional to the degree and type of risk
7. Demonstrate that the regulatory response will not unduly affect areas that it was not designed to address
8. Specify, particularly for technical regulations, regulatory requirements in terms of their performance rather than their design or descriptive characteristics
9. Make use of all or parts of relevant national or International Standards, guidelines and recommendations as a basis for technical regulations and for conformity assessment procedures when they fulfil intended policy objectives.