Search

ARCHIVED -  Telecom Public Notice  CRTC 98-34

This page has been archived on the Web

Information identified as archived on the Web is for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. Archived Decisions, Notices and Orders (DNOs) remain in effect except to the extent they are amended or reversed by the Commission, a court, or the government. The text of archived information has not been altered or updated after the date of archiving. Changes to DNOs are published as “dashes” to the original DNO number. Web pages that are archived on the Web are not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards. As per the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada, you can request alternate formats by contacting us.

Archived

This page has been archived on the Web.

 

Telecom Public Notice CRTC 98-34
  Ottawa, 20 November 1998
 

PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO REGULATIONS RESPECTING TELECOMMUNICATIONS FEES
  File No.: 8686-C12-02/98
  I GENERAL
  1. On 1 April 1995, the Telecommunications Fees Regulations, 1995 (the 1995 Regulations) came into effect. In announcing the 1995 Regulations in Telecommunications Fees Regulations, 1995, Telecom Public Notice CRTC 95-20, 25 April 1995, the Commission noted that it may, if warranted, review the 1995 Regulations within a three-year time-frame.
  2. Section 68 of the Telecommunications Act (the Act), states that the Commission may, with the approval of the Treasury Board, make regulations prescribing fees, and respecting their calculation and payment, for the purpose of recovering all or a portion of the costs that the Commission determines to be attributable to its responsibilities under the Act or any special Act. The Commission proposes to amend the 1995 Regulations pursuant to this section of the Act, effective 1 April 1999. The amended regulations will continue to ensure that the fees collected by the Commission recover its costs. A copy of the proposed regulations is appended to this Public Notice.
  3. The Commission notes that it is not solely the Canadian carriers that file tariffs that cause the Commission's costs. Increasingly, Commission resources are spent, not only on processing tariff applications, but also on such activities as establishing and monitoring a regulatory framework designed to ensure that there is sustainable competition.
  4. In the Commission's view, the proposed new regulations provide for a more appropriate and equitable means of recovering the Commission's telecommunications costs. The existing 1995 Regulations provide for the payment of telecommunications fees by those Canadian carriers that file tariffs, whereas the proposed amendments provide for the payment of telecommunications fees by all Canadian carriers, whether they file tariffs or not, unless their telecommunications operating revenues are less than the proposed threshold identified in Part II below.
  5. The 1995 Regulations require Canadian carriers that file tariffs to pay fees, even with regard to services which do not require tariffs. At the same time, other Canadian carriers pay no fees although the Commission has retained some regulation of these carriers. Consequently, even though all Canadian carriers cause regulatory costs, in a competitive era where all carriers must cut costs, some must pay fees, while their competitors do not. It is also to be noted that regulation by the Commission benefits not only those that file tariffs, but all Canadian carriers, by providing a body which seeks, among other objectives, to ensure that there is sustainable competition.
  6. The Commission proposes to continue the fee calculation mechanism implemented in the 1995 Regulations which requires that the fees to be paid by a Canadian carrier be calculated as a pro rata share based on operating revenues earned by the carrier from the provision of  telecommunications services in the previous year.
  7. The Commission is of the view that the fee calculation mechanism provides a practical and efficient means of cost recovery, and it considers still valid, the principles underlying the existing regulations. These principles were initially expressed in Regulations Respecting Telecommunications Fees, CRTC Telecom Public Notice 1987-30, 16 June 1987 as follows:
  The Commission considers this [fee calculation] method to be fair, and to be relatively straightforward and inexpensive to apply. In this regard, the Commission notes that all services, including competitive services, contribute to regulatory activity and costs and it considers, therefore, that all services should contribute to the recovery of costs.
  8. Consistent with the above, the Commission will require all Canadian carriers to file their most recent annual financial statements with the Commission on or before 31 March of each year.
  II INTRODUCTION OF A FEE-PAYING THRESHOLD
  9. The Commission proposes to introduce a threshold of $1 million per annum in telecommunications operating revenues, below which Canadian carriers would not be required to pay telecommunications fees.
  10. The Commission notes that for the 1998-1999 fiscal year, approximately 30% of the current fee-payers representing 0.04% of total telecommunications fees had telecommunications revenues below the proposed threshold. Such a threshold would lighten the regulatory burden on the smaller carriers and increase administrative efficiency without materially increasing the burden on the remaining fee-paying companies.
  III INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS LICENCES
  11. An Act to amend the Telecommunications Act and the Teleglobe Canada Reorganization and Divestiture Act, S.C. 1998, Chapter 8, was passed by Parliament which added, among other things, subsections 16.1 and 16.2 to the Act:
  12. Subsection 16.1(2) of the Act provides that:
  No telecommunications service provider shall, except in accordance with an international telecommunications service licence, provide international telecommunications services that are within a class of telecommunications services specified by the Commission.
  13. Subsection 16.2 provides that:
  An application for the issuance, renewal or amendment of an international telecommunications service licence must be made in the form and manner and with the information specified by the Commission, and be accompanied by the fee prescribed [by the Commission] under subsection 68(1).
  14. In Regulatory Regime for the Provision of International Telecommunications Services, Telecom Decision CRTC 98-17, 1 October 1998, the Commission has established two sets of classes of international licence, i.e., Class A and Class B.
  15. The Commission proposes that an application for the issuance of an international telecommunications service licence be accompanied by a licence fee in the amount of $1,000 and that the first renewal of an international telecommunications licence be accompanied by a fee in the amount of $1,250, less the amount paid for the issuance of that licence. For any subsequent renewals, the fee will be $250. For any amendment to the licences, the fee will be $250. The above fees will apply to both class A and B international licences.
  16. The amount of the licence fees recovered in respect of any fiscal year will be applied to reduce the actual expenditures of the Commission for its Telecommunications Activity and its other expenditures attributable to its Telecommunications Activity in respect of that year that are recovered through the annual telecommunications fee payable by Canadian carriers.
  IV PROCEDURE
  17. Interested parties wishing to comment on the proposed regulations must send their submissions to the Secretary General, CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2, fax: 819-953-0795 by 28 January 1999. Any such submissions must be actually received, not merely sent, by that date.
  18. Any submissions filed may be examined, or will be made available promptly upon request, at the CRTC offices at the following addresses:
  Central Building
Les Terrasses de la Chaudière 1 Promenade du Portage
Room 201
Hull, Quebec
  580 Hornby Street
Suite 530
Vancouver, British Columbia
  Bank of Commerce Building
1809 Barrington Street
Suite 1007
Halifax, Nova Scotia
  Place Montréal Trust
1800 McGill College Avenue
Suite 1920
Montréal, Quebec
  275 Portage Avenue
Suite 1810
Winnipeg, Manitoba
  55 St. Clair Avenue East
Suite 624
Toronto, Ontario
  19. In addition to hard copy filings, parties are encouraged to file with the Commission electronic versions of their submissions in accordance with the Commission's Interim Telecom Guidelines for the Handling of Machine-Readable Files, dated 30 November 1995. The Commission's Internet email address for electronically filed documents is public.telecom@crtc.gc.ca. Electronically filed documents can be accessed at the Commission's Internet site at http://www.crtc.gc.ca.
  Secretary General
  This document is available in alternative format upon request.
 
  Appendix
  JUS-600566
  (CG-I/GC-I)
  REGULATIONS AMENDING THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS FEES REGULATIONS, 1995
  amendments
  1. Subsection 3(1) of the Telecommunications Fees Regulations, 1995 is replaced by the following:
  3. (1) A Canadian carrier that reports operating revenues, derived from the provision of telecommunications services, in excess of $1 million in that Canadian carrier's most recent annual financial statements, shall pay to the Commission, on receipt of an invoice sent by the Commission, an annual telecommunications fee calculated in the manner set out in section 4.
  2. Subsection 4(5) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:
  (5) An application for the issuance, renewal or amendment of an international telecommunications service licence shall be accompanied by a licence fee in the amount of
  (a) in the case of the issuance of a licence, $1,000;
  (b) in the case of the first renewal of a licence, $1,250 less the amount paid for the issuance of that licence; and
  (c) in the case of any subsequent renewal of a licence or the amendment of a licence, $250.
  (6) The total annual adjustment amount in respect of any fiscal year of the Commission is the amount by which the fees recovered in accordance with this section for that fiscal year are greater or less, as the case may be, than the actual expenditures of the Commission for its Telecommunications Activity and its other expenditures attributable to its Telecommunications Activity in respect of that year.
  coming into force
  3. These Regulations come into force on April 1, 1999.
 
  JUS-600566
  (CG-I/GC-I)
  EXPLANATORY NOTE
  (This note is not part of the Regulations.)
  These amendments
  (a) change the criteria identifying the Canadian carriers that are required to pay telecommunications fees;
  (b) prescribe the licence fee that must accompany an application for the issuance, renewal or amendment of an international telecommunications service licence; and
  (c) amend the formula applied in the calculation of the total annual adjustment amount to specify that all fees recovered in accordance with section 4 are to be included.
Date modified: