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Telecom Circular CRTC 2005-9 |
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Ottawa, 1 November 2005 |
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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: |
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- Notification to the applicant of status of application:
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a) Interim decision issued
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85 percent of interim decisions issued in
10 business days |
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b) Issues identified (letter)
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85 percent of letters issued in 10 business
days |
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c) Interrogatories (letter)
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85 percent of letters issued in 10 business
days |
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d) Closed as deficient (letter)
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85 percent of letters issued in 10 business
days |
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- Average processing time of initial dispositions1 issued
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30 business days |
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- Initial dispositions issued
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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. |
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Secretary General |
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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 |
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1Initial 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. |