Act has the same meaning as in the Interpretation Act (and means an Act of the Legislature, whether referred to as a statute, code or by any other name, and, when referring to past legislation, includes an ordinance or proclamation made before 1871, that has the force of law).

Legislation means legislation that is drafted for inclusion in a Government Bill.

Policy means an interpretative policy of general application associated with an Act that is issued by a regulatory authority to assist with administering or enforcing statutes and regulations. While policy “requirements” are not binding, they do contribute to administrative and compliance costs.

Red Tape is non-essential procedures, forms, licences, and regulations that add to the cost of dealing with government. This includes anything obsolete, redundant, wasteful or confusing that diminishes the province's economic competitiveness, and stands in the way of job creation or wastes taxpayers' time and money. Red Tape does NOT include measures that are demonstrably effective and necessary for the protection of public health, safety, and the environment.

Regulation refers to the instruments by which governments place requirements on enterprises, citizens and government itself. This includes legislation, regulations and related interpretative or administrative policies. These instruments contain regulatory requirements or obligations, compulsions, demands or prohibitions imposed on individuals, entities or activities.

Regulatory Authority means an authority empowered by or under a provincial Act to administer or enforce statutes.

Regulatory Count is the number of regulatory requirements imposed by the provincial government through legislation, regulations and related interpretative and administrative policy. The baseline count was established in 2001.

Regulatory Requirement means a compulsion, obligation, demand or prohibition placed on an individual, entity or activity by or under the authority of a provincial Act, regulation or related policy. (Note: discretionary powers are not included.)

Regulatory Reform Commitment means the provincial government’s commitment to maintain a zero net increase in regulatory requirements in British Columbia through December 2012.

Significant Compliance Burden means that members of an industry or economic sector in the province have demonstrated that compliance with the proposed regulatory requirements or the proposed change in regulatory requirements would have a significant adverse effect on the province-wide productivity or competitiveness of that industry or economic sector.