Administrative Burden Baseline: 2025 Update

In 2012 and as part of its Red Tape Reduction Action Plan, the Government committed to building on the efforts of the Paperwork Burden Reduction Initiative by requiring departments, through the Administrative Burden Baseline (ABB), to provide a clear count of the requirements in federal regulations and associated forms that impose an administrative burden on business. The ABB benefits Canadians by contributing to the openness and transparency of the federal regulatory system. 

All federal regulations administered by Global Affairs Canada whose requirements impose an administrative burden on business are identified below.  

Global Affairs Canada completed its first ABB count in 2014 for the 2013-2014 fiscal year and pursued this exercise annually:

• the first ABB count ever made for the department was 2,730*.
• the total June 30, 2015 Administrative Burden Baseline count was 2,743*;
• the total June 30, 2016 Administrative Burden Baseline count was 2,746*;
• the total June 30, 2017 Administrative Burden Baseline count was 2,744*;
• the total June 30, 2018 Administrative Burden Baseline count was 2,856*;
• the total June 30, 2019 Administrative Burden Baseline count was 3,028*;
• the total June 30, 2020 Administrative Burden Baseline count was 3,105*;
• the total June 30, 2021 Administrative Burden Baseline count was 3,113*;
• the total June 30, 2022 Administrative Burden Baseline count was 3,113*;
• the total June 30, 2023 Administrative Burden Baseline count was 3,131*;
• the total June 30, 2024 Administrative Burden Baseline count was 3,126.

For the period starting on July 1, 2024, and ending on June 30, 2025, there was a net decrease of 16 to the administrative burden count. The total June 30, 2025, Administrative Burden Baseline count is 3,110.

This decrease is the result of the repeal of all the permit authorization orders under the Special Economic Measures Act regulations on February 26, 2025:

• Special Economic Measures (Belarus) Permit Authorization Order;
• Special Economic Measures (Burma) Permit Authorization Order;
• Special Economic Measures (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) Permit Authorization Order;
• Special Economic Measures (Extremist Settler Violence) Permit Authorization Order;
• Special Economic Measures (Guatemala) Permit Authorization Order;
• Special Economic Measures (Haiti) Permit Authorization Order;
• Special Economic Measures (Hamas Terrorist Attacks) Permit Authorization Order;
• Special Economic Measures (Iran) Permit Authorization Order;
• Special Economic Measures (Moldova) Permit Authorization Order;
• Special Economic Measures (Nicaragua) Permit Authorization Order;
• Special Economic Measures (People’s Republic of China) Permit Authorization Order;
• Special Economic Measures (Russia) Permit Authorization Order;
• Special Economic Measures (South Sudan) Permit Authorization Order;
• Special Economic Measures (Sri Lanka) Permit Authorization Order;
• Special Economic Measures (Sudan) Permit Authorization Order;
• Special Economic Measures (Syria) Permit Authorization Order;
• Special Economic Measures (Ukraine) Permit Authorization Order;
• Special Economic Measures (Venezuela) Permit Authorization Order;
• Special Economic Measures (Zimbabwe) Permit Authorization Order;

which were replaced by the following regulation:

• Special Economic Measures Permit Authorization Order.

While there was a net decrease, the overall count also included the addition of a new information requirement for these regulations:

• General Import Permit No. 80 — Carbon Steel; and
• General Import Permit No. 81 — Specialty Steel Products.

* Count may differ from previous annual updates as the department conducted a recount of a number of regulations’ administrative burdens.