Telecom Circular CRTC 2005-9

Ottawa, 1 November 2005

Finalization of the streamlined process for retail tariff filings

1. The purpose of this Circular is to provide notification that the procedural changes outlined in Introduction of a streamlined process for retail tariff filings, Telecom Circular CRTC 2005-6, 25 April 2005 (Circular 2005-6) and the service standards to measure the Commission's effectiveness in carrying out the streamlined process are now being finalized.

2. In Circular 2005-6, the Commission stated that its objective would be to ensure that within 10 business days from the date a complete retail tariff application was received, the Commission would issue either (a) an order granting the application interim approval, (b) a letter stating that it intended to dispose of the application within 45 business days of receipt of the application, setting out the reasons why interim approval was not granted, (c) a letter either with interrogatories included or confirmation that interrogatories were to follow within 5 business days, and an indication that it still intended to dispose of the application within 45 business days, or (d) a letter indicating that the file was being closed due to deficiencies in the application, identifying the specific deficiencies.

3. The Commission stated that responses to interrogatories would be expected to be provided as soon as possible, normally within 5 to 10 business days depending on the complexity of the information sought. The Commission indicated that an application would be considered complete when it had received the entire application, including any confidential and requisite supporting information, as well as any amendments.

4. The Commission also indicated that parties were to provide comments within 25 calendar days of the filing date of an application, and the applicant was to file reply comments within 7 calendar days after the final date for interventions. Parties would continue to have the right to request an extension of time, providing justification for their request.

5. In order to help the Commission meet its objective of responding expeditiously to tariff applications, the Commission requested the companies to file all tariff applications on an electronic basis, using Epass.

6. With these procedural changes, the Commission stated that it expected to reduce its average time to dispose of retail tariff applications by 50 percent over the 12 months following the release of Circular 2005-6, and that major improvements would be implemented immediately. At the time of the release of Circular 2005-6, the Commission's average time to dispose of retail tariff applications was in excess of 55 business days.

7. The Commission indicated that it was instituting the streamlining initiatives on a trial basis, until such time as the Commission had sufficient information to assess their ongoing appropriateness.

8. The Commission notes that the initiatives outlined in Circular 2005-6 and confirmed in this Circular do not apply to applications for destandardization or withdrawal of services, which are addressed in New procedures for disposition of applications dealing with the destandardization and/or withdrawal of tariffed services, Telecom Circular CRTC 2005-7, 30 May 2005.

9. On 16 September 2005, the Commission published on its website the preliminary results of its initiative to streamline the processing of retail tariff applications, for the period from 1 April to 30 June 2005. The results dealt mainly with the Commission's effectiveness in dealing with retail tariff applications within 10 business days of receipt of the complete application.

10. The Commission has developed service standards, consistent with Circular 2005-6, to cover the 10 business day objective of dealing with tariff applications and the need to reduce the average processing time to issue a decision, either interim or final. Further, consistent with section 26 of the Telecommunications Act that requires the Commission to respond to tariff applications within 45 business days, the Commission is maintaining its existing service standard to measure compliance with that provision. The service standards are as follows:

• Notification to the applicant of status of application:
  1. Interim decision issued
     85 percent of interim decisions issued in 10 business days
  2. Issues identified (letter)
     85 percent of letters issued in 10 business days
  3. Interrogatories (letter)
     85 percent of letters issued in 10 business days
  4. Closed as deficient (letter)
     85 percent of letters issued in 10 business days
• Average processing time of initial dispositions¹ issued
  30 business days
• Initial dispositions issued
  85 percent in 45 business days

11. The Commission is satisfied that information it has gathered during the six-month period from April through September 2005 demonstrates that the streamlining initiatives it set out in Circular 2005-6 are appropriate. The Commission therefore implements these initiatives, and the service standards noted above, on a final basis.

12. The Commission expects to publish its results on a quarterly basis on the Commission's Website.

Secretary General

This document is available in alternative format upon request, and may also be examined in PDF format or in HTML at the following Internet site: http://www.crtc.gc.ca

Footnotes

[1] Initial disposition could be an interim or a final decision, or a letter indicating that the file is being closed due to deficiencies in the application.

Date modified:

2005-11-01