Improvement Priorities - Implementation Status – March 31, 2017

To facilitate understanding, awareness and compliance with its regulatory determinations and to provide guidance on regulatory obligations, the Agency assessed its interpretation practices and identified areas for improvement with its stakeholders.

The Agency's improvement priority, as established in 2015, is to receive and address feedback as appropriate with respect to the Agency's licensing and financial requirements forms and guides, and with respect to any of its interpretation and guidance materials.

Performance against this priority was measured through monitoring application trends and the engagement of stakeholders in periodic surveys and targeted consultations.

Area of Improvement: Receiving and addressing feedback with respect to its interpretation and guidance materials

Licencing

The Agency will:

• Continue to monitor and, as appropriate, act on feedback received in relation to its licencing and financial requirements forms and guides.

Implementation Status:

• Since the issuance of the licencing and financial requirements forms and guides, application trends indicate that the majority of applicants have not experienced difficulties submitting their forms electronically with all of the requested information and documentation.
• In order to make our processes more efficient and up to date, the Agency began developing web-based air licensing application forms.  During bilateral meetings, a number of key air carriers provided views regarding elements that they would like to see incorporated in the Agency's development of web-forms. They also indicated a desire for the application forms to be structured in a manner to avoid re-entering information that they may have submitted in a previous application.
• The web-form prototype was completed in June 2016, but planned stakeholder consultations were put on hold in light of the Agency's Regulatory Modernization Initiative.

Accessibility

The Agency will:

• Update its Communication Code of Practice (Communication Code), its Air Code of Practice (Air Code), publish a best practice resource tool for providing assistance to customers with disabilities, and create a self-assessment tool for use with its training videos to support compliance with the Personnel Training for the Assistance of Persons with Disabilities Regulations.

Implementation Status:

• The Agency consulted with its Accessibility Advisory Committee, which is made up of representatives from the community of persons with disabilities, the transportation industry and other interested parties to inform the development of the updated codes of practice and the new resource tools. These codes of practice and resources tools were posted on the Agency's website in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015-2016. 

Air Travel

The Agency will:

• Continue its commitment to provide consistent external communication on compliance requirements and interpretations.

Implementation Status:

• In December 2015, the Agency launched a series of videos to help air travellers ensure that their trips go as smoothly as possible. The videos explain, in straightforward terms, how travellers can deal with some of the most common problems they face (such as ticketing issues, lost and delayed baggage, or scheduling irregularities), and provide useful tips on how to prevent these issues from arising. At the same time, the Agency launched an updated version of its popular Fly Smart air travel guide on its website. Fly Smart is a comprehensive air travel guide for the travelling public.
• In May 2016, the Agency launched an additional video to explain how air travellers can resolve common air travel issues and to explain how the Agency can facilitate a solution.
• The Agency has set up and regularly updates its Facebook and Twitter accounts in order to inform stakeholders of their rights, and to provide better communication regarding the Agency's processes and outcomes.

The Agency will:

• Launch a simplified web-based air travel complaint form.

Implementation Status:

• In September 2016, the Agency launched a simplified web-based air travel complaint form.  
• Application trends indicate that the web-based forms are more accessible, as more than half of the forms are submitted from mobile devices. Feedback from users indicates that the web-based forms are quicker and easier to fill out. In addition, the Agency has seen a significant increase in the number of forms submitted in the six months following the change to a more simplified form.

Rail

The Agency will:

• Issue an interpretation document to explain noise and vibration from idling locomotives and new procedures regarding the adjudication of objections to rail level of service arbitration submissions.

Implementation Status:

• In March 2016, the Agency issued the publication Noise and Vibration from Idling Locomotives. The document discusses issues such as why locomotives idle, characteristics of noise and vibration from idling locomotives, and ways of managing noise and vibration impacts.   The noise and vibration interpretation document was informed through consultations with the Agency's Rail Infrastructure Advisory Committee (RIAC). The RIAC is comprised of representatives from the industry, government organizations and the public.
• On July 18 2016, the Agency issued new procedures for the adjudication of objections to rail level of service arbitration submissions. The procedures set out the process for hearing objections to ensure that the Agency can render a decision with due regard for fairness and efficiency.

Other

The Agency will:

• Continue its commitment to seek feedback from stakeholders in regards to client service, which is one of the key priorities of the Agency.

Implementation Status:

• The Agency has continued to conduct an annual client satisfaction survey.
• For 2015-2016, 271 questionnaires and/or interviews were completed by representatives of five client groups: those who went through an inspection or new licensing process, those involved in travel-related dispute adjudications, those involved in a non-travel related dispute adjudication and multi-party determination, those whose disputes were facilitated by the Agency, and those involved in mediation.
• The key findings were posted on the Agency's website in September 2016. 

Further Improvements

In addition to addressing the identified areas for improvement in our Interpretation Policy, the Agency will continue to improve the way it provides regulatory guidance to Canadians and stakeholders. 

On May 26, 2016, the Agency launched its Regulatory Modernization Initiative (RMI) – the first comprehensive review of all the regulations it administers. Many of these regulations date back 25 years or more, and need to be updated to reflect changes in user expectations, business models and best practices in the regulatory field. 

The RMI will provide an opportunity to advance the commitment to receive and address feedback as appropriate with respect to the Agencyʼs various guidance material and tools to ensure that they keep pace with changes in business models, user expectations and best practices in the regulatory field.

• On June 6, 2016, the Agency launched the first phase of the RMI: consultation on accessible transportation regulations. To advance this initiative, the Agency met with its Accessibility Advisory Committee and requested input from persons with disabilities, transportation service providers and all interested Canadians on how regulatory measures can help make the federal transportation network accessible for persons with disabilities. 
• On December 19, 2016, the Agency launched the second phase of the RMI: consultation on regulatory provisions related to air transportation -- including charter flights, air licencing, compliance monitoring and enforcement, and control-in-fact determinations, but not including consumer protection (which will be covered in a later phase).  

The Agency is aiming to complete consultations, draft modernized regulations, obtain all necessary approvals, and begin implementation by 2018 or 2019.