Mr. Chair, the government does not support this amendment. The government encourages regulation-makers to ensure that material is accessible in many ways. In some cases, a reasonable fee for the purpose of accessing incorporated material is acceptable. This in no way precludes copies from being made available for consultation or for viewing through other innovative and flexible mechanisms that result from partnerships with standards development organizations such as the Canadian Standards Association.
Other jurisdictions still respect copyright in incorporated standards and do not require the standard to be free in order to incorporate it, for example, the United States, New Zealand, and various provinces of Canada. Regulation-making authorities will not charge a fee for consultation of incorporated documents that they have on hand.
(Amendment negatived: nays, 5; yeas, 4 [See Minutes of Proceedings])