The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is pleased that legislative amendments to the Fair Registration Practices Act have passed third reading in the House of Assembly.

The Fair Registration Practices Act helps ensure registration processes for regulated professions are transparent, timely and fair. This helps qualified individuals, including internationally educated professionals and people trained elsewhere in Canada, obtain recognition of their qualifications so they can participate in and strengthen the province’s workforce and build a life and career in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The amendments move the list of regulatory bodies covered by the act from the statute into regulations, providing a more flexible and responsive approach to adding or removing regulatory bodies. This allows the Provincial Government to add regulatory bodies as they are ready and more quickly respond to labour mobility commitments without requiring amendments to the act each time a regulatory body needs to be added or removed.

By making it easier to add regulatory bodies under the act, the changes will also help reduce red tape by providing qualified individuals and prospective employers with greater clarity around licensing requirements and a defined timeline. The amendments support the Provincial Government’s commitment to recognize professional credentials and training across provinces, helping qualified workers move more easily between jurisdictions.

The amendments do not change the purpose of the Fair Registration Practices Act or the role of regulatory bodies. Regulatory bodies will continue to establish and assess the qualifications, standards and requirements needed to practice in their professions and carry out their public protection mandates.

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“As workforce needs change, government needs to be able to respond efficiently. Moving the list of regulatory bodies into regulations gives us greater flexibility to make necessary updates and respond to evolving labour market needs, while continuing to support fair, transparent and timely registration processes for qualified professionals in Newfoundland and Labrador.”
Honourable Lin Paddock
Minister of Jobs, Growth and Rural Development

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