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Table 2: User Fees

The only fee that the CRTC currently collects which is subject to the reporting requirements of the User Fees Act relates to the processing of access requests filed under the Access to Information Act.

Table 2-A: User Fees
($ thousands)

User Fee	Fee Type	Fee-setting Authority	Date Last Modified	2008-09					Planning Years
				Forecast Revenue	Actual Revenue	Full Cost	Performance Standards	Performance Result	Fiscal Year	Forecast Revenue	Estimated Full Cost
Access to Information Fees	Other Products and Services (O)	Access to Information Act	1992	$ -	$0.4	$45	Requests are completed as per the standards indicated in the Access to Information Act.  Section 7 of the Act states that access to a record requested under this Act shall, subject to sections 8, 9 and 11 be made available within thirty (30) days after the request is received	During FY 2008-09, 58 new requests were received and 2 requests were carried over from FY 2007-2008. 47 requests were completed and processed in the following time frames: 37 completed within 30 days, 4 within 31 to 60 days and 6 within 61 to 120 days. 13 requests are still pending at the end of FY 2008-09	2009-10	$1	$45
									2010-11	$1	$45
									2011-12	$1	$45
Total									2009-10	$1	$45
									2010-11	$1	$45
									2011-12	$1	$45

External Fees and Policy on Service Standard for External Fees

CRTC assesses fees pursuant to the Broadcasting Licence Fee Regulations 1997, and the Telecommunications Fee Regulations 1995. These regulations can be located on the CRTC web site at www.crtc.gc.ca. The CRTC has received a legal opinion indicating that the Part I broadcasting licence fees and telecommunications fees are considered to be external �regulatory fees� and not �user fees� as defined in the User Fees Act. Thus these fees, and the external reporting of any information related to these fees, are not subject to the provisions of the User Fees Act (UFA), but rather the Treasury Board Policy on Service Standards for External Fees. 2008-2009 Service Standards and performance for Broadcasting and Telecommunications can be found on the CRTC Website.
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/publications/reports/standards2008.htm
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/publications/reports/t_standards08.htm

Furthermore, the Federal Court of Appeal dealt with a reference case regarding proposed changes to the CRTC Telecommunications Fee Regulations. In the Federal Court of Appeal�s decision issued on July 2, 2009 (http://decisions.fca-caf.gc.ca/en/2009/2009fca224/2009fca224.html) it was determined that changes to the Telecommunications Fee Regulations would not be subject to the provisions of the User Fees Act. As a result of the Court�s decision, the CRTC intends to issue a decision regarding the process which it re-opened in Telecom Public Notice 2008-13 to modify its telecommunications fee regulations as proposed in Telecom Decision CRTC 2006-71.

In order to be as comprehensive and transparent as possible with respect to CRTC external fees, information on broadcasting and telecommunications fees is being presented in the following table.

CRTC External Fees

Name of Fee	Fee Type	Fee Setting Authority	Date last Modified	2008-2009					Planning Years
				Forecasted Revenue	Actual Revenue ($000)	Full Cost ($000)	Performance Standards	Performance Results	Fiscal Year	Forecast Revenue ($000)	Estimated Full Cost ($000)
Broadcasting Licence Fees Part I Part II (note 1)	Regulatory (R) Right & Privilege	Broadcasting Act (Section 11) Broadcasting Licence Fee Regulations 1997	1997 1997	$27.2M $ -	$27.3M $ -	$27.3M $10.0M	http://www .crtc.gc.ca/ eng/publicat ions/reports /standards 2008.htm	http://www .crtc.gc.ca/ eng/publicati ons/reports /standards 2008.htm	2009-10	$33.5M	$33.5M
									2010-11	$32.9M	$32.9M
									2011-12	$28.5M	$28.5M
									2009-10	- $	$10.0M
									2010-11	- $	$10.0M
									2011-12	- $	$10.0M
Telecommunications Fees	Regulatory (R)	Telecommuni-cations Act (Section 68) Telecommuni-cations Fee Regulations 1995	1995	$29.9M	$27.5M	$27.5M	http://www .crtc.gc.ca/ eng/publica tions/repo rts/t_stand ards08.htm	http://www .crtc.gc.ca/ eng/publicat ions/reports/ t_standard s08.htm	2009-10	$31.0M	$31.0M
									2010-11	$25.1M	$25.1M
									2011-12	$25.1M	$25.1M
Total				$57.1M	$54.8M	$64.8M			2009-10	$64.5M	$64.5M
									2010-11	$58.0M	$58.0M
									2011-12	$53.6M	$53.6M

Note 1 No revenues for Part II licence fees are forecasted for these years as a result of ongoing litigation pertaining to a challenge of the CRTC�s Part II broadcasting licence fees. The Supreme Court of Canada has tentatively scheduled a hearing on October 19, 2009 to deal with the Part II licence fees issue. The amounts reflected in the estimated full cost column pertain to Industry Canada costs associated with broadcasting spectrum management.

Explanation of Revenue

The CRTC collects fees under the authority of the Broadcasting Act and Telecommunications Act and the regulations made pursuant to these Acts, namely the Broadcasting Licence Fee Regulations, 1997 and the Telecommunications Fee Regulations, 1995. For fiscal year 2008-2009 the Part I broadcasting licence fees total $27.3 million made up of $ 21.7 million respendable and $5.6 million non-respendable revenues. For the same period, telecommunications fees totalled $27.5 million made up of $18.7 million in respendable and $8.8 million in non-respendable revenues.

Broadcasting Licence Fees

Section 11 of the Broadcasting Act empowers the Commission to make regulations respecting licence fees. These regulations apply to all licensees other than those classes of undertakings specifically exempted under section 2 of the fee regulations. Every licensee subject to the regulations is required to pay a Part I and a Part II licence fee to the Commission annually. For 2008-2009 the CRTC collected a total of $27.3 in Part I fees. The CRTC did not assess or collect revenues for Part II licence fees as a result on the ongoing litigation pertaining to a challenge of the CRTC�s Part II broadcasting licence fees.

The Part I fee is based on the broadcasting regulatory costs incurred each year by the Commission and other federal departments or agencies, excluding Industry Canada spectrum management costs (which are recovered as a component of Part II licence fees). The Part I fee is equal to the aggregate of:

• the costs of the Commission�s broadcasting activity;
• the share of the costs of the Commission�s administrative activities that is attributable to its broadcasting activity; and
• the other costs included in the net cost of the Commission�s program attributable to its broadcasting activities, excluding the costs of regulating the broadcasting spectrum.

The estimated total broadcasting regulatory costs of the Commission are set out in the Commission�s Expenditure Plan published in Part III of the Estimates of the Government of Canada (i.e. Part III Report on Plans and Priorities). There is an annual adjustment amount to the Part I fee to adjust estimated costs to actual expenditures. Any excess fees or shortfalls are credited or charged to the licensee in a following year�s invoice.

The Part II fee is calculated at 1.365% of a licensee�s gross revenue derived from broadcasting activities in excess of an applicable exemption limit. The CRTC collects the Part II fees on behalf of the government, with all revenues collected being deposited to the Government of Canada�s Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).

Part II Fee and Legal Proceeding

Several legal proceedings have been filed in the Federal Court of Canada by broadcasters [1] challenging the legality of the Part II Licence Fee. These claims also seek the return of fees paid pursuant to section 11 of the Broadcasting Licence Fee Regulations, 1997 (the Regulations) from 1998 to 2006, plus interest and costs.

On December 14, 2006, the Federal Court Trial Division ruled that the CRTC�s Part II licence fees collected by the federal government from broadcasters and broadcast distributors were an illegal tax. The Crown appealed that decision to the Federal Court of Appeal. On April 28, 2008, the Federal Court of Appeal overturned the earlier ruling of the Federal Court Trial Division and declared that the Part II licence fees are valid regulatory charges and are not a tax. In June 2008, the plaintiffs filed applications for leave to appeal, of the Federal Court of Appeal decision, to the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC). In December 2008, the SCC approved the application for leave to appeal. A hearing date of October 19, 2009 has tentatively been scheduled by the SCC to deal with the Part II licence fees issue.

Telecommunications Fees

Section 68 of the Telecommunications Act sets out the authority for collecting telecommunications fees from carriers that the Commission regulates. Each company that files tariffs must pay fees based on its operating revenue, as a percentage of the revenue of all the carriers that file tariffs. For 2008-2009, the CRTC collected $27.5 million in telecommunications fees.

The annual fees the CRTC collects is equal to the aggregate of:

• the cost of the Commission�s telecommunications activity;
• the share of the costs of the administrative activities that is attributable to its telecommunications activity; and
• the other costs included in the net cost of the Commission�s program attributable to its telecommunications activity.

The Commission�s estimated total telecommunications regulatory costs are set out in the Commission�s Expenditure Plan published in Part III of the Estimates of the Government of Canada (i.e., Part III Report on Plans and Priorities). There is an annual adjustment amount to the telecommunications fees to adjust estimated costs to actual expenditures. Any excess fees or shortfalls are credited or charged to the carriers in a following year�s invoice.

Dispute Resolution � Fee Assessment

Under the CRTC�s dispute resolution process regarding the assessment of broadcasting licence fees and telecommunications fees:

• The first point of contact for fee payers concerning issues related to fee assessment or collection is the Commission�s Assistant Director, Financial Operations and Licence Fee Processing followed by the Director General Finance and Administrative Services. Fee payers may raise their concerns either by telephone conversation, e-mail or letter. To date the CRTC notes that the majority of fee payers concerns have been resolved at the staff level.
• Where an issue cannot be satisfactorily resolved at the staff level, fee payers are requested to document the nature of their concern in writing and submit it to the CRTC�s Secretary General for formal consideration. CRTC responds to all such letters.

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[1] The fee paying members of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters ("CAB") and 14 Corporate Plaintiffs, and Vid�otron Lt�e, Vid�otron (Regional) Lt�e, and CF Cable TV inc.

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