Vol. 132, No. 32 — August 8, 1998

Order Amending the Overtime Fees Order

Statutory Authority

Financial Administration Act

Sponsoring Agency

Canadian Food Inspection Agency

REGULATORY IMPACT
ANALYSIS STATEMENT

Description

This Order amends the definition of the term "service" in the Overtime Fees Order to include ship inspection services provided under the Plant Protection Regulations. Overtime charges for ship inspection were excluded from the Overtime Fees Order in 1995 because they were already covered by the Plant Protection Fees Regulations. This change will consolidate all overtime fees in the one Order.

The Overtime Fees Order was established in 1995 under the Financial Administration Act to recover the cost of inspection services provided outside of regular working hours, i.e. as overtime. Overtime is defined as any time worked by an employee in excess of his or her regular work shift (minimum of 7.5 hours per day), or in the case of the Meat Inspection Regulations, 1990, any time worked by an employee outside of a scheduled work shift. Overtime is generally considered to be a rate of pay equal to one and one half or two times the employees' normal rate of pay, depending on the terms of the collective agreement.

With these amendments, the overtime rates for ship inspection will become the same as for other overtime services provided by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

Alternatives

(i) Eliminate overtime fees

The elimination of overtime fees for ship inspection was rejected since the continued provision of services depends on cost shared revenues. Furthermore, this approach is not consistent with the CFIA policy on the provision of overtime services.

(ii) Overtime Fees remain as part of the Plant Protection Fees Order

This option was rejected since it is not consistent with the approach taken by all other commodities which are subject to the Overtime Fees Order.

(iii) Reference the Overtime Fees Order

This alternative was accepted as it is consistent with the approach taken by all other commodities and consolidates all overtime charges under the Overtime Fees Order.

Benefits and Costs

There will be an increase in the amount of fees charged for the provision of overtime ship inspection services under the Plant Protection Regulations. However, the new fees are a truer reflection of the actual costs of the Agency to deliver this service. Accordingly, this will allow the Agency to provide staff and the windows of service to meet the service expectations of the exporters and ships agents.

Even though overtime cost recovery initiatives for other sectors were implemented under the Overtime Fees Order on October 12,1995, overtime charges for ship inspection has remained unchanged since that time.

This amendment has no impact on the year 2000 computer issue.

Consultation

This issue has been discussed with the Shipping Federation of Canada and the Chamber of Shipping of British Columbia as part of overall cost sharing negotiations. During a recent meeting CFIA held with shipping industry representatives, industry concern was noted primarily on the accumulative impact of cost recovery from all federal departments to the shipping sector. The shipping sector will be invited to participate in such a study planned by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Compliance and Enforcement

Overtime inspection services are provided in accordance with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Overtime Policy. In cases where fees for services have not been paid, future requests for overtime services will be denied until the outstanding fees are paid.

Contact

Mr. Glenn Hansen, Director, Business Initiatives Centre, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, 59 Camelot Drive, Nepean, Ontario K1A 0Y9, (613) 225-2342, extension 4178 (Telephone), (613) 228-6600 (Facsimile).

PROPOSED REGULATORY TEXT

Notice is hereby given that the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, pursuant to Order in Council P.C. 1995-325 of February 28, 1995 (see footnote a), made pursuant to paragraphs 19(1)(b) (see footnote b) and 19.1(1)(b) (see footnote c) of the Financial Administration Act, proposes to make the annexed Order Amending the Overtime Fees Order.

Interested persons may make representations concerning the proposed Order within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. All such representations must be addressed to Mr. G. Hansen, Director, Business Initiatives Centre, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, 59 Camelot Drive, Nepean, Ontario K1A 0Y9, (613) 225-2342 (Telephone), (613) 228-6600 (Facsimile), and cite the Canada Gazette, Part I, and the date of this notice.

LYLE VANCLIEF
Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food

ORDER AMENDING THE OVERTIME FEES ORDER

AMENDMENT

1. The definition "service" (see footnote 1) in section 2 of the Overtime Fees Order (see footnote 2) is replaced by the following:

"service" means a service provided by the Agency. (service)

COMING INTO FORCE

2. This Order comes into force on the date on which it is registered.

[32-1-o]

Footnote a

SI/95-34

Footnote b

S.C., 1991, c. 24, s. 6

Footnote c

S.C., 1991, c. 24, s. 6

Footnote 1

SOR/97-169

Footnote 2

SOR/95-487; SOR/97-169

NOTICE:
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