Acts and regulations

CFIA is responsible for administering certain federal acts and regulations.

Access these federal acts and regulations at the following link:

• List of acts and regulations

CFIA is committed to upholding accessibility, transparency, consistency, reasonableness, and clarity when using incorporation by reference in regulations.

• View Incorporation by reference
• View CFIA Incorporation by Reference Policy
• View Inventory of documents incorporated by reference

CFIA publishes a public list, with descriptions, of planned or anticipated federal regulatory changes that CFIA intends to bring forward over a 24-month period.

The Forward Regulatory Plan landing page includes a link to CFIA's stock review plan, which is CFIA's plan to review its entire regulatory stock over a set period of time. The stock review plan includes:

• a list of the regulations that will undergo a review, prioritized in a way that makes sense to the regulator and stakeholders
• a time frame for the review(s)

The landing page also includes a link to the targeted Regulatory Review Sectoral Roadmap published by CFIA. The regulatory initiatives identified in the roadmap where developed to address barriers to innovation and economic growth.

To develop the sectoral roadmap, the department was required by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat to:

• determine regulatory issues and irritants that are barriers to innovation, competitiveness, and economic growth for a particular sector
• assess opportunities for innovative approaches to regulation, such as iterative co-development, pilot projects or regulatory sandboxes
• in the sectoral roadmap, identify actions that will be taken to address issues or irritants expressed by stakeholders and describe opportunities for innovation

View the Forward Regulatory Plan.

View the Agri-food and Aquaculture Regulatory Review Roadmap.

View the Regulatory Stock Review Plan.

CFIA publishes timeliness service standards and performance information for its services, including services for regulated parties to obtain regulatory authorization such as a permit or licence to engage in a regulated activity.
View Service standards for high-volume regulatory authorizations.

CFIA's Policy for Providing Guidance on Regulatory Requirements:

• outlines the commitments, practices and tools that CFIA applies when providing Canadians and businesses with information and guidance on regulatory obligations to be met
• identifies the conditions under which written responses to questions will be provided

View CFIA's Policy for Providing Guidance on Regulatory Requirements.

The Administrative Burden Baseline initiative requires departments and agencies to:

• establish a baseline count of federal regulatory requirements that impose administrative burden on business
• annually update and report publicly on the count of baseline requirements

View the number of administrative burden requirements in regulations administered by CFIA: Administrative Burden Baseline: Update 2020

Food safety and the protection of plant and animal resources are central priorities guiding Canada's food safety regulations. However, CFIA also recognizes that we can support innovation and productivity by streamlining regulations and cutting red tape.
View Reducing Red Tape.

CFIA is undertaking a review of its regulations for food safety, plant and animal health to improve their consistency, reduce their complexity and strengthen consumer protection.
View Regulatory modernization.

CFIA is implementing a modern regulatory framework that is safe and responsive and that maintains high standards for health and safety while enabling opportunities for industry to innovate.
View Safe and Responsive Regulatory Framework.