As a result of their deliberations committees may make recommendations which they include in their reports for the consideration of the House of Commons or the Government. Recommendations related to this study are listed below.

Recommendation 1

That the federal government, in collaboration with municipal, provincial and territorial governments, put in place a public mechanism to measure and consolidate the number of regulatory requirements Canadian businesses are subject to, and that this mechanism also provide a way to assess duplicate regulatory requirements between levels of government, with a view to eliminating redundant requirements.

Recommendation 2

That the federal government, when assessing regulations, include new evaluation criteria focused on business innovation and competitiveness, and consider conducting small-scale preliminary studies on the impact of regulations on innovation and competitiveness.

Recommendation 3

That the federal government consider taking measures to make regulations more flexible, for example by making outcome-based rather than process-based regulations and supplementing regulations with guidance documents.

Recommendation 4

That the federal government report on the implementation of the initiatives announced in the new Cabinet Directive on Regulation, especially those aiming at supporting innovation, to assess and measure how they have affected the activities of Canadian businesses, and that it report on the results of these initiatives to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology within three years.

Recommendation 5

That the federal government establish modern and preferred means of communication with small businesses to respond to their questions, concerns, and applications in a service-oriented, efficient, and timely manner.

Recommendation 6

That the federal government review the Red Tape Reduction Act and its application in light of the implementation by the British-Columbia government of a “2-for-1” rule on introducing new regulations, and consider adopting a similar approach at the federal level.

Recommendation 7

That the federal government look for opportunities to use technology to both simplify a company’s adherence to regulations while at the same time improving compliance.

Recommendation 8

That the federal government collaborate with provincial and territorial governments to put in place consistent product certification standards across Canada to eliminate differences in regulatory requirements that affect trade in various industries, particularly the agri-food industry.

Recommendation 9

That the federal government consider ways to simplify and reduce the cost of the various product approval processes in Canada in order to eliminate barriers to bringing products to market.

Recommendation 10

That the federal government consider ways to eliminate barriers of entry for new health products when doing so would favour public health, for example by allowing drug manufacturers and importers to file multiple pharmaceutical formulations of the same drug under a single application, when appropriate.

Recommendation 11

That the federal government consider increasing the harmonization of regulatory standards and processes with those of its trade partners in order to ensure the safety and security of products while reducing Canadian market access barriers for businesses.