Health Canada acts and regulations

We consult with the public, industry, non-governmental organizations and other interested parties to develop these laws. We also prepare guidelines to help interpret and clarify legislation and regulations.

Incorporation by reference

We're committed to the principles of:

We're also committed to aligning these principles when using incorporation by reference in regulations.

Planned or anticipated changes to regulations

Health Canada publishes the Forward Regulatory Plan, which is a public list of planned or anticipated federal regulatory changes that we intend to make over a 24-month period.

We also publish the Stock Review Plan, which is the department's plan to review its entire regulatory stock over a set period of time. The plan includes:

We also participated in targeted regulatory reviews focused on:

This was to identify and address regulatory barriers to economic growth and innovation.

Timeliness service standards and performance information

We publish timeliness service standards and performance information for our services. This includes services for regulated parties to obtain regulatory authorization, such as a permit or licence to engage in a regulated activity.

Guidance on regulatory requirements

Our Policy on Providing Guidance on Regulatory Requirements outlines the commitments, practices and tools that we apply when providing people and businesses with information and guidance on regulatory obligations.

It also identifies the conditions under which we provide written responses to queries about these requirements.

Number of administrative burden requirements in regulations

The Administrative Burden Baseline initiative requires departments and agencies to annually update and report publicly on the count of baseline requirements. It also requires them to establish a baseline count of federal regulatory requirements that impose administrative burden on business.

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