They are a mandatory requirement because we've established that as a directive under management policy for the Government of Canada. The reason I say they are mandatory is that these instruments the secretariat has put in place are mandatory for heads of institutions to follow. In addition, as you well know, we determine whether they're following them through vehicles such as the management accountability framework. So we look very closely at their compliance.
On May 1st, 2008. See this statement in context.