Advisory Committee on Paperwork Burden Reduction (ACPBR)

Launched in 2005, the former Advisory Committee on Paperwork Burden (ACPBR) was a public-private sector working group co-chaired by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and Industry Canada. Its mandate concluded in 2009.

The ACPBR had fourteen members including small business owners, business associations, and government departments and agencies.

Its mission was to help the federal government take actions to improve regulatory efficiency and to lower administrative costs to businesses. Specifically, the ACPBR provided advice to government to limit and/or reduce the disproportionate paperwork burden facing small businesses.

The ACPBR submitted two reports to the Minister of Industry with 19 broad- based recommendations, including to create an inventory of information obligations and regulatory requirements, as well as to set an overall target to reduce the inventory, within a set timeframe. These recommendations led the government to launch its 20 percent paperwork burden reduction exercise. By September 2007, fourteen departments and agencies had compiled an inventory of information obligations and administrative requirements, and then proceeded to meet the target of reducing that inventory by 20 percent in March 2009.

The ACPBR reports of recommendations can be downloaded from the section: Annual Progress Reports.