Minister’s message
On behalf of the Communications Security Establishment, 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:
- a 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.
I welcome the increased transparency and oversight that the Service Fees Act’s reporting regime embodies, and I am fully committed to transitioning my department to this modern framework.
Yours sincerely,
The Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, PC, OMM, MSM, CD, MP
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
General and financial information by fee category
| 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 department responded within 30 days for 45 of the 144* cases, within 31 to 60 days for 19 requests, between 61 to 120 days for 8 requests, between 181 to 365 days for one request and one request took more than 365 days to process. 70 requests were carried forward into the next FY. |
| Other information | Under the Access to Information Act, fees under $25 may be waived when deemed to be in the public interest. Fees waived during 2017 to 2018 totalled $10. |
* Includes cases where a Notice of Extension is sent to the requester within 30 days of receipt of the request.
| 2016 to 2017 Revenue | 2017 to 2018 Revenue | 2017 to 2018 Cost* | 2017 to 2018 Remissions† |
|---|---|---|---|
| $650 | $450 | $370,214 | 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. Under the Service Fees Act departments are required to develop policies that determine when fees will be remitted to fee payers should service standards not be met. The requirement for departments to remit is anticipated to come into effect on March 31, 2020. This effective date allows departments time to develop remissions policies and adjust service standard tracking and remittance systems. During fiscal year 2017 to 2018, some departments may have issued remissions, in accordance with their authority of their enabling legislation or regulation, as opposed to the authority given by the Service Fees Act. It is remissions issued under enabling legislations or regulations that are shown above.
Fees under the department’s authority
| Name of fee | 2017 to 2018 Fee amount | 2019 to 2020 Adjusted fee amount* | Future fee amount and fiscal year† |
|---|---|---|---|
| Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
Endnotes
For more information, contact
Communications Security Establishment
PO Box 9703, Terminal
Ottawa ON Canada K1G 3Z4
©Government of Canada
This document is the property of the Government of Canada. It shall not be altered, distributed beyond its intended audience, produced, reproduced or published, in whole or in any substantial part thereof, without the express permission of CSE.
Cat. No. D95-5E-PDF
ISSN 2562-346X
