Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission 2017 to 2018 Fees Report

Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission 2017 to 2018 Fees Report (PDF, 13 pages, 444 KB)

President’s message

On behalf of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), I am pleased to present the 2017 to 2018 Report on Fees.

On June 22, 2017, the Service Fees Act received royal assent, thereby repealing the User Fees Act.

The Service Fees Act introduces a modern legislative framework that enables cost-effective delivery of services and, through enhanced reporting to Parliament, improved transparency and oversight. The act provides for:

• streamlined approach to consultation and the approval of new or modified fees
• a requirement for services to have service standards and reporting against these standards, along with a policy to remit fees to fee payers when standards are not met
• an automatic annual fee adjustment by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to ensure that fees keep pace with inflation
• annual detailed reporting to Parliament in order to increase transparency

This 2017 to 2018 Fees Report is the first report to be prepared under the Service Fees Act. The report includes new information such as a detailed listing of all fees along with future year fee amounts. Additional fee information will be included starting next fiscal year.

The CNSC is exempt from parts of the Services Fees Act. The CNSC has statutory authority pursuant to subsection 21(3) of the Nuclear Safety and Control Act to spend during a fiscal year any revenues that it receives in the current or previous fiscal year through the conduct of its operations. The revenues received from regulatory fees for licenses and applications are charged in accordance with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Cost Recovery Fees Regulations. This authority to spend revenues provides a sustainable and timely funding regime to address the rapid changes in the regulatory oversight workload associated with the Canadian nuclear industry.

The CNSC’s website and audited financial statements enhance the transparency and oversight of the regime by disclosing significant details about the CNSC’s Cost Recovery Program. I welcome this new reporting framework, as it provides standardized access to information for all stakeholders.

General fees information

The tables that follow provide information on each category of fees, including:

• the name of the fee category
• the date that the fee (or fee category) was introduced and last amended (if applicable)
• service standards
• performance results against these standards
• financial information regarding total costs, total revenues and remissions

In addition to the information presented by fee category, there is a summary of the financial information for all fees as well as a listing of fees under the department’s authority. This listing includes the existing fee dollar amounts and the adjusted dollar fee amount for a future year.

General and financial information by fee category

General information

Fee category	Regulatory Activity Plan Fees
Fee-setting authority	Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Cost Recovery Fees Regulations, Part 2
Year introduced	2003
Year last amended	2003
Service standard	Exempt
Performance results	Exempt
Other information	The Cost Recovery Fees Regulations are pursuant to subsection 44(1) of the Nuclear Safety and Control Act. The financial information presented excludes the licences provided free of charge for educational institutions, not-for-profit research institutions wholly owned by educational institutions, publicly funded healthcare institutions and not-for-profit emergency response organizations. This detail is available in the notes to the departmental financial statements.

Financial information (dollars)

2016–17 Revenue	2017–18 Revenue*	2017–18 Cost*	2017–18 Remissions†
98,664,000	102,292,000	102,292,000	Exempt

* Revenues and full costs as reported on accrual basis of accounting in the audited departmental financial statements

† A remission is a partial or full return of a fee paid should service standards not be met.

Fee category	Formula Fees
Fee-setting authority	Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Cost Recovery Fees Regulations, Part 3
Year introduced	2003
Year last amended	2003
Service standard	Exempt
Performance results	Exempt
Other information	The Cost Recovery Fees Regulations are pursuant to subsection 44(1) of the Nuclear Safety and Control Act. The financial information presented excludes the licences provided free of charge for educational institutions, not-for-profit research institutions wholly owned by educational institutions, publicly funded healthcare institutions and not-for-profit emergency response organizations. This detail is available in the notes to the departmental financial statements.

Financial information (dollars)

2016–17 Revenue	2017–18 Revenue*	2017–18 Cost*	2017–18 Remissions†
7,003,000	7,874,000	11,586,000	Exempt

* Revenues and full costs as reported on accrual basis of accounting in the audited departmental financial statements

† A remission is a partial or full return of a fee paid should service standards not be met.

Fee category	Fixed Fees
Fee-setting authority	Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Cost Recovery Fees Regulations, Part 4
Year introduced	2003
Year last amended	2003
Service standard	Exempt
Performance results	Exempt
Other information	The Cost Recovery Fees Regulations are pursuant to subsection 44(1) of the Nuclear Safety and Control Act. The financial information presented excludes the licences provided free of charge for educational institutions, not-for-profit research institutions wholly owned by educational institutions, publicly funded healthcare institutions and not-for-profit emergency response organizations. This detail is available in the notes to the departmental financial statements.

Financial information (dollars)

2016–17 Revenue	2017–18 Revenue*	2017–18 Cost*	2017–18 Remissions†
471,000	455,000	4,321,000	Exempt

* Revenues and full costs as reported on accrual basis of accounting in the audited departmental financial statements

† A remission is a partial or full return of a fee paid should service standards not be met.

Fee category	Special Projects
Fee-setting authority	Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Cost Recovery Fees Regulations, Part 5
Year introduced	2003
Year last amended	2003
Service standard	Exempt
Performance results	Exempt
Other information	The Cost Recovery Fees Regulations are pursuant to subsection 44(1) of the Nuclear Safety and Control Act.

Financial information (dollars)

2016–17 Revenue	2017–18 Revenue*	2017–18 Cost*	2017–18 Remissions†
1,864,000	2,663,000	2,591,000	Exempt

* Revenues and full costs as reported on accrual basis of accounting in the audited departmental financial statements

† A remission is a partial or full return of a fee paid should service standards not be met.

Fee category	Fees for processing requests filed under the Access to Information Act
Fee-setting authority	Access to Information Act
Year introduced	1983
Year last amended	2018
Service standard	A response is provided within 30 days following receipt of a request; the response time may be extended under section 9 of the Access to Information Act.
Performance results	The CNSC responded within 30 days in 74.5% of the cases.* Of the remaining requests, 8.3% were completed in 31–60 days and 17.2% were completed in 61–365 days. None of the cases required more than 365 days to complete.
Other information

* This includes cases where a notice of extension was sent to the requester within 30 days of receipt of the request.

Financial information (dollars)

2016–17 Revenue	2017–18 Revenue*	2017–18 Cost*	2017–18 Remissions†
595	1,455	306,599	Not applicable

* The amount includes direct and indirect costs, where such costs are identifiable and material.

† A remission is a partial or full return of a fee paid should service standards not be met.

Financial totals for all fee categories

Total revenues, costs and remissions (dollars)

2016–17 Total revenue	2017–18 Total revenue*	2017–18 Total cost*	2017–18 Total remissions
108,002,595	113,285,455	121,096,599	Exempt

Note: the totals are the sums of the revenues, costs and remissions reported for all fee categories in the financial information tables in Part A.

* Revenues and full costs as reported on accrual basis of accounting in the audited departmental financial statements

Fees under the department’s authority

Fee amounts for 2017–18 and 2019–20 and for a future fiscal year, as applicable (dollars)

Name of fee	2017–18 fee amount*	2019–20 Adjusted fee amount	Future fee amount and fiscal year
Regulatory Activity Plan Fees	Part 2 of the Regulations	Exempt	Exempt
Formula Fees	Section 2 of the Schedule	Exempt	Exempt
Fixed Fees	Section 3 of the Schedule	Exempt	Exempt
Special Projects	Part 4 of the Regulations	Exempt	Exempt

* All references to the Regulations and Schedule are to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Cost Recovery Fees Regulations. Regulatory Activity Plan Fees are communicated annually to licensees.
Schedules for Formula Fees and Fixed Fees are published annually. For Special Projects, the CNSC revises its hourly rate annually, in order to recover full costs.
Further information about the CNSC's Cost Recovery Program and fees is available at:
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/acts-and-regulations/cost-recovery-program/index

Endnotes

1. Services Fees Act, http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/S-8.4/index.html
2. User Fees Act, http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/U-3.7/20040331/P1TT3xt3.html
3. Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, "Cost Recovery Fees Regulations," https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2003-212/FullText.html
4. Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, "Cost Recovery Fees Schedule – Formula and Fixed Fees, 2017–18" http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/pdfs/Fees/CNSC-Cost-Recovery-Fee-Schedule-2017-18-eng.pdf
5. Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, "Cost Recovery Program," http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/acts-and-regulations/cost-recovery-program/index
6. Access to Information Act, http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/A-1/index.html