Environment and Climate Change Canada, Access to Information
The date of registration and the due date, or a notice under subsection 9(1) with its length; the fee not charged.
The letter ·
Re: RE: FW: Request under the Access to Information Act - notifications under subsection 106(1) of CEPA for gene-edited plants, and records on the application of paragraph 106(6)(a)
Hello,
File A-2026-00235. Your letter of 10 September 2026 states that processing has started. It does not give the date of registration, and it does not decide the fee waiver.
1. Date of registration. The request reached Environment and Climate Change Canada on 2 September 2026. The time limit under section 7 of the Access to Information Act runs from that date. Confirm in writing that A-2026-00235 carries 2 September 2026 as its date of receipt. State the date on which the response is due.
2. The provision. My request of 2 September 2026 and my letter of 3 September 2026 each cited subsection 11(6) of the Act. Section 11 of the Act, current to 21 July 2026, holds two subsections. The power to waive the application fee is subsection 11(2). Read the waiver request as made under subsection 11(2).
3. The waiver. The application fee stands unpaid and processing has begun. Confirm in writing that no application fee was charged and that none will be charged on this file. Where the department holds a different position, give the decision on the waiver, the reason for it, and the name of the person who made it.
Where these 3 items do not reach me by 22 September 2026, this file goes to the Information Commissioner of Canada under paragraph 30(1)(b) and paragraph 30(1)(f) of the Act.
Respectfully,
Danilo Dzyuban
The answer ·
Good morning,
Thank you for reaching out to us, we apologize for any confusion regarding the processing of this request.
As per our letter sent on September 10th, 2026, we indicated the following:
Under section 11(2) of the Access to Information Act, the head of a government institution has the discretion to waive the $5 application fee. After careful review of your request, we are granting a waiver of the processing fee.
Therefore, we can confirm that no fee has been charged or will be charged to process this request.
Our letter also indicated that we acknowledge receipt on September 3, 2026 of your request under the Access to Information Act.
Therefore, regarding your request to confirm in writing that A-2026-00235 carries 2 September 2026 as its date of receipt, as the request was sent via email at 9:45pm on September 2nd, this was outside of our standard business hours and Environment and Climate Change Canada therefore did not receive the request until the next business day, September 3rd. Since the official date we received this request is September 3rd, the initial 30-day due date falls on October 5th.Should we require more time for the processing of your request, as per section 9(1) of the Access to Information Act we will advise you within thirty days after the request was received.
We hope that we have provided some additional context as to the processing of your request.Thank you,
The answer ·
Good morning,
This is further to your request made under the Access to Information Act for the following:
"I make this request under section 6 of the Access to Information Act. I am a Canadian resident and I request access to the following records held by Environment and Climate Change Canada.
1. All notifications provided to the Minister under subsection 106(1) of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 and the New Substances Notification Regulations (Organisms) in respect of gene-edited plants, from 18 May 2022 to the date this request is processed, showing the notifier and the date of each notification.
2. All correspondence between Environment and Climate Change Canada and Health Canada, or the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, or Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, concerning the application of paragraph 106(6)(a) of that Act to gene-edited plants determined to be non-novel, dated between 1 January 2021 and the date this request is processed.
3. All legal opinions, legal risk assessments and internal analyses held by the department addressing whether subsection 106(1) applies to a gene-edited plant that falls outside Part V of the Seeds Regulations under the guidance approved on 3 May 2023.
4. All records concerning any review of Schedule 4 of that Act after 3 May 2023, including any assessment of whether the Seeds Regulations continue to satisfy the condition in paragraph 106(6)(a) following the change in guidance.
5. All records showing the number of applications for investigation received under section 17 of that Act since 1 January 2023 that concern products of biotechnology, and the disposition of each.
I request the records in electronic format."
Our programs have informed us that they are anticipating a large volume of records for your request. In an effort to expedite the processing of your request and reduce the volume, would you be interested in limiting the scope to final versions, or last available draft if a final version does not yet exist?
In addition, in order to ensure we only retrieve records of relevance to you, we are looking to further clarify item number 4 of your request: "4. All records concerning any review of Schedule 4 of that Act after 3 May 2023, including any assessment of whether the Seeds Regulations continue to satisfy the condition in paragraph 106(6)(a) following the change in guidance."
Could you please confirm if under item number 4 you are seeking records of the reviews of all Acts and Regulations under Schedule 4 of CEPA, or only those related to the Seeds Act and its Regulations?
**Please note that this request will remain *on hold* until we can confirm the clarification. This request will be closed as abandoned if we do not receive a response within 30 days.**
Thank you,