Regulatory Authority Approval of Federal Regulations and Publication Requirements 

Under Article 5 of the Statutory Instruments Act, a federal regulation must be submitted or presented to the Clerk of the Privy Council within seven days of being made for registration. Legislative Counsel Amena Ali reviews for us the steps involved in having federal regulations approved by the regulation-making authority. She also talks about the registration and publication requirements for federal regulations that fall under the authority of the Treasury Board. 

The authority for the approval of a federal regulation may vary. A distinction must be made between instruments whose approval is subject to the authority of the Treasury Board and those whose approval is subject to the authority of a minister or federal agency. 

It should also be noted that there are two general requirements for the publication of federal regulations, both under the Statutory Instruments Act (which requires statutory publication) and the Cabinet Directive on Regulating (which requires policy publication):   

1) Pre-publication in the Canada Gazette, Part I 

2) Final publication in the Canada Gazette, Part II 

Some federal statutes also contain specific provisions for the publication of regulations made under those statutes. 

As explained by law clerk Anne-Marie Lalonde in the video above, pre-publication involves publishing the proposed regulations and the Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement (RIAS) in the Canada Gazette, Part I, to allow Canadians to participate in the regulatory process. Once approved in final form, the regulations are published in Part II of the Canada Gazette under Article 11 of the Statutory Instruments Act. 

In the following subsections, you will learn about the approval requirements for regulations under the authority of a Minister and those under the authority of a federal agency.