
Background
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:
- Identify the institutions and parties that should be involved in addressing the public policy issue
- Identify the appropriate instrument or mix of instruments, including regulatory and non-regulatory measures, and justify their application before submitting a regulatory proposal
- Consider potential alternatives to regulation, including voluntary standards, information disclosure, and guidelines, and whether outcome or performance-based approaches would be suitable
- Engage small businesses in alternative approaches to compliance (including costs)
- Demonstrate that the regulatory response is designed to address policy objectives
- Demonstrate that the regulatory response is proportional to the degree and type of risk
- Demonstrate that the regulatory response will not unduly affect areas that it was not designed to address
- Specify, particularly for technical regulations, regulatory requirements in terms of their performance rather than their design or descriptive characteristics
- 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.
ISO Member Body
The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) is the ISO member body in Canada.
Canadian Policy / Regulation | Reference to standard/s |
---|---|
Organic Products Regulations, 2009 (SOR/2009-176) |
s.9(1): Subject to subsection (2), on the recommendation made in a report of the conformity verification body, the Agency shall suspend the accreditation of a certification body if the certification body has not complied with any provision of the Act, these Regulations or ISO/IEC 17065. |
Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers Regulations (SOR 2008-218) |
s.8: The presence of any polybrominated diphenyl ether shall be determined by a laboratory that is accredited under the International Organization for Standardization standard ISO/IEC 17025:2005, entitled General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories, as amended from time to time, and whose accreditation includes the analysis of polybrominated diphenyl ethers within its scope of testing. |
Navigation Safety Regulation (SOR/2005-134) |
s.10(2): If a ship is constructed on or after July 1, 2002, all electrical and electronic equipment on the bridge or in the vicinity of the bridge shall be tested for electromagnetic compatibility, taking into account testing standard IEC 60533 of the International Electrotechnical Commission, entitled Electrical and electronic installations in ships – Electromagnetic compatibility. |
National Examples Overview

Canada

China

Europe

Japan

South Africa
