Action required

SCC-accredited Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) shall simultaneously submit their Notices of Intent (NOIs) in both official languages starting May 1, 2022.

Affected customers

SCC-accredited Standards Development Organizations and applicants

Background

SCC’s Centralized Notification System (CNS) houses the Notices of Intent (NOIs) for new standards projects. The CNS is a supporting service to the development of standards by SCC-accredited SDOs that centralizes their NOIs on SCC’s website.

SCC is a federal Crown corporation and as a federal institution it is subject to the Official Languages Act (OLA). Under Part IV of the OLA – Communications with and services to the public, SCC must ensure that all public facing content is provided simultaneously in both of Canada’s official languages (English and French). This includes all information published on SCC’s website, including the CNS.

SCC’s current Requirements & Guidance – Accreditation of Standards Development Organizations (R&Gs for SDOs) published in 2019 indicates in section 6.6.1 that NOIs may be submitted in either of Canada’s official languages. With this bulletin, SCC is taking interim measures to address this gap with the Official Languages Act and ensure its full compliance by updating clause 6.6.1 to indicate that NOIs must be simultaneous published in both official languages. This change will be reflected in the next version of the R&Gs for SDOs which will be updated in Fall 2022. In the meantime, this bulletin will serve as an auditable document.

Summary of changes

Clause 6.6.1 becomes: 

Notices of Intent (NOI)
The SDO shall inform the Canadian public by providing their NOIs to the CNS platform when it has taken the decision to develop or adopt a new standard or other. 

NOIs must be simultaneously submitted in both of Canada’s official languages (English and French).

Deadline

The updated clause 6.6.1 is effective starting 2022-05-01, SDOs will be assessed at their next scheduled assessment.

Questions?

Please contact your Account Manager for more information