Regulatory consultations

Details of the consultation process

The CNSC consults with Indigenous Nations and communities, host communities, other interested parties and the general public to help develop many of the tools in its regulatory framework. These include discussion papers and draft documents, proposed new regulations or amendments to regulations.

Each document is made available for public comment for a specified period of time. Please note that comments submitted, including names and affiliations, are intended to be made public, in the official language in which they were received. Personal information, such as email addresses, phone numbers and mailing addresses, will not be made public.

At the end of the consultation period, a table is posted that shows all comments received. For certain documents, an additional period of time is given to provide feedback on the comments received.

Comments are reviewed for compliance with the CNSC’s moderation policy. Comments can be redacted in part or in whole for violation of the terms of the policy.

Moderation policy

The CNSC’s moderation policy ensures that comments are not harmful to others. Comments that include any of the following may be redacted in part or in whole:

• personal information of any individual
• threats or incitements to violence
• duplicative or substantially duplicative postings by the same person or entity
• seeking employment or containing advertisements for a commercial product or service
• in violation of law, including libel, condoning or encouraging illegal activity, revealing classified information, or infringing on a copyright or trademark
• racist, hateful, sexist, homophobic, or slanderous
• insulting or involve questionable conduct in regards to another person
• aggressive, rude, coarse, violent, obscene, profane or pornographic in nature
• offensive or abusive to an individual or organization
• repetitive or spamming threads
• off-topic or do not add to the normal flow of the discussion

In addition, misleading, false and unfounded statements in comments may be removed if they are deemed by a site administrator to be likely to cause harm. Small errors in comments may be corrected if they are deemed to be unlikely to cause harm.

Types of documents

Discussion papers

Discussion papers play an important role in the selection and development of the CNSC’s requirements or guidance. They are used to solicit early public feedback on CNSC policies or approaches. The CNSC analyzes and considers this early feedback when determining the type and nature of requirements and guidance to issue. This process is intended to streamline document development and publishing.

Regulatory documents (REGDOCs)

Regulatory documents generally present both requirements and guidance in a single document and distinguish between them by the use of mandatory (e.g., shall, must) and non-mandatory (e.g., should, may) language.

Regulations

Regulations set information requirements for all types of licence applications and obligations, and provide for exemptions from licensing.