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Radio Regulations, 1986 (SOR/86-982)

Regulations are current to 2024-03-06 and last amended on 2015-11-25. Previous Versions

PART I.1

Broadcasting Content

 A licensee shall not broadcast

  • (a) anything in contravention of the law;

  • (b) any abusive comment that, when taken in context, tends or is likely to expose an individual or a group or class of individuals to hatred or contempt on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age or mental or physical disability;

  • (c) any obscene or profane language;

  • (d) any false or misleading news; or

  • (e) any telephone interview or conversation, or any part thereof, with any person unless

    • (i) the person’s oral or written consent to the interview or conversation being broadcast was obtained prior to the broadcast, or

    • (ii) the person telephoned the station for the purpose of participating in a broadcast.

  • SOR/91-586, s. 1

 For the purposes of paragraph 3(b), sexual orientation does not include the orientation towards any sexual act or activity that would constitute an offence under the Criminal Code.

  • SOR/91-586, s. 2

 For the purposes of paragraph 3(c), language is obscene if it has as a dominant characteristic the undue exploitation of sex or the combination of sexual content with one or more of the following subjects, namely, crime, horror, cruelty and violence.

  • SOR/2011-147, s. 1
  •  (1) A licensee may broadcast a commercial message directly or indirectly advertising an alcoholic beverage only if

    • (a) the sponsor is not prohibited from advertising the alcoholic beverage by the laws of the province in which the commercial message is broadcast;

    • (b) subject to subsection (2), the commercial message is not designed to promote the general consumption of alcoholic beverages; and

    • (c) the commercial message complies with the Code for Broadcast Advertising of Alcoholic Beverages, published by the Commission on August 1, 1996.

  • (2) Paragraph (1)(b) does not apply so as to prohibit industry, public service or brand preference advertising.

  • SOR/93-209, s. 1
  • SOR/95-451, s. 1
  • SOR/97-100, s. 1
  •  (1) Before January 1, 1999, a licensee shall not broadcast a commercial message for, or an endorsement of, a device to which the Food and Drugs Act applies unless

    • (a) the script of the commercial message or endorsement has been approved by the Minister of Health to indicate, to the extent that it is possible to do so on the basis of a script, that a commercial message or an endorsement conforming to the approved script would comply with the applicable provisions, administered by that Minister, of the Food and Drugs Act, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and regulations made pursuant to those Acts or to the Department of Health Act; and

    • (b) the script bears the script number assigned to it by that Minister.

  • (2) Before January 1, 1999, when a licensee broadcasts a commercial message or an endorsement referred to in subsection (1), the licensee shall keep a record of the script for a period of one year after the date of the broadcast, which record shall contain

    • (a) the name of the device to which the script relates;

    • (b) the name of the sponsor or advertising agency that submitted the script for approval; and

    • (c) the script number referred to in paragraph (1)(b).

  • (3) A licensee shall provide the record required by subsection (2) to the Commission or to an inspector designated pursuant to the Food and Drugs Act, acting on behalf of the Commission, where the Commission or the inspector so requests for the purpose of audit or examination.

  • (4) The approval of the script of a commercial message or an endorsement referred to in subsection (1) does not indicate that the commercial message or endorsement complies with the applicable legislation.

  • SOR/92-613, s. 1
  • SOR/93-209, s. 2
  • SOR/97-290, s. 1

Political Broadcasts

 During an election period, a licensee shall allocate time for the broadcasting of programs, advertisements or announcements of a partisan political character on an equitable basis to all accredited political parties and rival candidates represented in the election or referendum.

Ethnic Programs

  •  (1) The licensee of an ethnic station shall devote not less than 60 per cent of its broadcast week to ethnic programs.

  • (2) Except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, an A.M. licensee, F.M. licensee or digital radio licensee that is licensed to operate an ethnic station shall devote at least 50% of a broadcast week to third language programs.

  • (3) Except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence to devote up to 40% of a broadcast week to third language programs, an A.M. licensee, F.M. licensee or digital radio licensee that is licensed to operate a station other than an ethnic station shall devote not more than 15% of a broadcast week to third language programs.

  • (4) Despite subsection (3), an A.M. licensee, F.M. licensee or digital radio licensee that is licensed to operate a community station or campus station may devote

    • (a) if it is broadcasting in a market where there is no ethnic station, up to 40% of a broadcast week to third language programs; or

    • (b) if it is broadcasting in a market where there is at least one ethnic station, except as otherwise provided by a condition of its licence, up to 15% of a broadcast week to third language programs.

  • SOR/2000-235, s. 2
  • SOR/2008-177, s. 3
  • SOR/2011-146, s. 3

Logs and Records

  •  (1) Except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, a licensee shall

    • (a) keep, in a form acceptable to the Commission, a program log or a record of the matter broadcast by the licensee;

    • (b) retain the log or record for a period of four weeks after the date when the matter was broadcast; and

    • (c) cause to be entered in the log or record each day the following information:

      • (i) the date,

      • (ii) the call letters, location and frequency of the licensee’s station,

      • (iii) the time at which each station identification announcement is made,

      • (iv) in relation to each program broadcast,

        • (A) the title and a brief description,

        • (B) subject to subsection (2), the number of the relevant content category,

        • (C) the time at which the program begins and ends,

        • (D) the code set out in Schedule 1 indicating the origin of the program and, if applicable, the language, type or group, and

        • (E) if applicable, the code set out in Schedule 1 identifying non-Canadian programming, and

      • (v) in relation to each commercial message, the quarter hour during which it is broadcast, its duration and the number of the relevant content subcategory.

  • (2) When a program falls into more than one content category, a licensee shall cause to be entered in its program log or record the numbers of the two principal content categories in descending order of their relative importance in terms of broadcast time.

  • (3) The times required to be entered pursuant to subparagraph (1)(c)(iii), clause (1)(c)(iv)(C) and subparagraph (1)(c)(v) are local times.

  • (4) A licensee shall furnish, to the Commission on request, its program log or record for any day, with a certificate signed by or on behalf of the licensee attesting to the accuracy of its content.

  • (5) A licensee shall retain a clear and intelligible audio recording or other exact copy of all matter broadcast

    • (a) for four weeks from the date of the broadcast; or

    • (b) where the Commission receives a complaint from any person regarding the matter broadcast or for any other reason wishes to investigate it and so notifies the licensee before the expiration of the period referred to in paragraph (a), for eight weeks from the date of the broadcast.

  • (6) When, before the expiry of the applicable period referred to in subsection (5), the Commission requests from the licensee a clear and intelligible audio recording or other exact copy of matter broadcast, the licensee shall furnish it to the Commission without delay.

  • (7) Subsections (1) to (4) do not apply to a person licensed to operate a radio network.

  • SOR/88-549, s. 2
  • SOR/98-597, s. 3
  • SOR/2006-9, s. 1
  • SOR/2008-177, s. 4
  • SOR/2015-245, s. 1

Requests for Information

  •  (1) For the purposes of this section,

    Canadian musical selection

    Canadian musical selection means a musical selection that meets the criteria set out in subsection 2.2(2); (pièce musicale canadienne)

    hit

    hit has the meaning indicated on pages 19 to 22 of Public Notice CRTC 1986-248 of September 19, 1986 entitled Regulations Respecting Radio Broadcasting and published in the Canada Gazette Part I on October 4, 1986, as amended by page 23 of Public Notice CRTC 1990-111 of December 17, 1990 entitled An FM Policy for the Nineties and published in the Canada Gazette Part I on December 29, 1990. (grand succès)

  • (2) On or before November 30 of each year, a licensee shall submit to the Commission a statement of accounts, on the annual return of broadcasting licensee form, for the year ending on the previous August 31.

  • (3) At the request of the Commission, a licensee shall submit for any period specified by the Commission in its request

    • (a) the information required by the Station Self-assessment Report set out in Schedule 2; and

    • (b) a list of the musical selections in the order in which they are broadcast by the licensee during that period that includes the title and performer of each musical selection and a legend that identifies

      • (i) any Canadian musical selection,

      • (ii) any hit,

      • (iii) any instrumental selection,

      • (iv) any content category 3 musical selection, and

      • (v) the language of the musical selection, where the musical selection is not an instrumental selection.

  • (4) At the request of the Commission, a licensee shall respond to

    • (a) any complaint or request for resolution of a dispute filed by any person or any request for information regarding programming originated or distributed by the licensee or regarding the licensee’s technical operations, subscribership, financial affairs or ownership; and

    • (b) any request for information regarding the licensee’s adherence to the conditions of its licence, the Act, these Regulations, industry standards, practices or codes or any other self-regulatory mechanism of the industry.

  • SOR/92-609, s. 2
  • SOR/2000-239, s. 3
  • SOR/2011-146, s. 4
  • SOR/2011-147, s. 2
  • SOR/2015-245, s. 2

Affiliation

  •  (1) For the purposes of this section, affiliation agreement means an agreement between one or more A.M. licensees, F.M. licensees or digital radio licensees and another party, according to which programs provided by the other party are to be broadcast by the licensee’s station at a predetermined time.

  • (2) An A.M. licensee, F.M. licensee or digital radio licensee shall not enter into an affiliation agreement with a person who is deemed to be a non-Canadian under section 3 of the Direction to the CRTC (Ineligibility of Non-Canadians).

  • SOR/88-549, s. 3
  • SOR/2008-177, s. 5

Ownership of Equipment and Facilities

 Except as otherwise provided pursuant to a condition of its licence, a licensee shall own and operate its transmitter.

  • SOR/93-355, s. 1

Transfer of Ownership or Control

  •  (1) For the purposes of this section,

    associate

    associate, when used to indicate a relationship with any person, includes

    • (a) a partner of the person,

    • (b) a trust or an estate in which the person has a substantial beneficial interest or in respect of which the person serves as a trustee or in a similar capacity,

    • (c) the spouse or common-law partner of the person,

    • (c.1) a child of the person or of their spouse or common-law partner, including a child adopted in fact by the person or by the spouse or common-law partner,

    • (c.2) the spouse or common-law partner of a child referred to in paragraph (c.1),

    • (d) a relative of the person, or of the spouse or common-law partner referred to in paragraph (c), if that relative has the same residence as the person,

    • (e) a corporation of which the person alone, or a person together with one or more associates as described in this definition, has, directly or indirectly, control of 50 per cent or more of the voting interests,

    • (f) a corporation of which an associate, as described in this definition, of the person has, directly or indirectly, control of 50 per cent or more of the voting interests, and

    • (g) a person, with whom the person has entered into an arrangement, a contract, an understanding or an agreement in respect of the voting of shares of a licensee corporation or of a corporation that has, directly or indirectly, effective control of a licensee corporation, except where that person controls less than one per cent of all issued voting shares of a corporation whose shares are publicly traded on a stock exchange; (liens)

    common-law partner

    common-law partner, in respect of a person, means an individual who is cohabiting with the person in a conjugal relationship, having so cohabited for a period of at least one year; (conjoint de fait)

    common shares

    common shares means the shares that represent the residual equity in the earnings of the corporation, and includes securities that are convertible into such shares at all times at the option of the holder and the preferred shares to which are attached rights to participate in the earnings of the corporation with no upper limit. (actions ordinaires)

    person

    person includes an individual, a partnership, a joint venture, an association, a corporation, a trust, an estate, a trustee, an executor and an administrator, or a legal representative of any of them; (personne)

    voting interest

    voting interest, in respect of

    • (a) a corporation with share capital, means the vote attached to a voting share,

    • (b) a corporation without share capital, means an interest that entitles the owner to voting rights similar to those enjoyed by the owner of a voting share,

    • (c) a partnership, a trust, an association or a joint venture, means an ownership interest in the assets of it that entitles the owner to receive a share of the profits of it, to receive a share of the assets of it on dissolution and to participate directly in the management of it or to vote on the election of the persons to be entrusted with the power and responsibility to manage it, and

    • (d) a not-for-profit partnership, trust, association or joint venture, means a right that entitles the owner to participate directly in the management of it or to vote on the election of the persons to be entrusted with the power and responsibility to manage it; (intérêt avec droit de vote)

    voting share

    voting share means a share in the capital of a corporation, to which is attached one or more votes that are exercisable at meetings of shareholders of the corporation, either under all circumstances or under a circumstance that has occurred and is continuing, and includes any security that is convertible into such a share at all times at the option of the holder. (action avec droit de vote)

  • (2) For the purposes of this section, control of a voting interest by a person includes situations in which

    • (a) the person is, directly or indirectly, the beneficial owner of the voting interest; or

    • (b) the person, by means of an arrangement, a contract, an understanding or an agreement, determines the manner in which the interest is voted but the solicitation of proxies or the seeking of instructions with respect to the completion of proxies in respect of the exercise of voting interests is not considered to be such an arrangement, contract, understanding or agreement.

  • (3) For the purposes of this section, effective control of a licensee or its undertaking includes situations in which

    • (a) a person controls, directly or indirectly, other than by way of security only, a majority of the voting interests of the licensee;

    • (b) a person has the ability to cause the licensee or its board of directors to undertake a course of action; or

    • (c) the Commission, after a public hearing of an application for a licence, or in respect of an existing licence, determines that a person has such effective control and sets out that determination in a decision or public notice.

  • (3.1) [Repealed, SOR/2000-235, s. 3]

  • (4) Except as otherwise provided pursuant to a condition of its licence, a licensee shall obtain the prior approval of the Commission in respect of any act, agreement or transaction that directly or indirectly would result in

    • (a) a change by whatever means of the effective control of its undertaking;

    • (b) a person alone

      • (i) who controls less than 30 per cent of the voting interests of the licensee, having control of 30 per cent or more of those interests,

      • (ii) who controls less than 30 per cent of the voting interests of a person who has, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, having control of 30 per cent or more of those interests,

      • (iii) who owns less than 50 per cent of the issued common shares of the licensee, owning 50 per cent or more of those shares but not having, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, or

      • (iv) who owns less than 50 per cent of the issued common shares of a person who has, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, owning 50 per cent or more of those shares but not having, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee;

    • (c) a person together with an associate

      • (i) who control less than 30 per cent of the voting interests of the licensee, having control of 30 per cent or more of those interests,

      • (ii) who control less than 30 per cent of the voting interests of a person who has, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, having control of 30 per cent or more of those interests,

      • (iii) who own less than 50 per cent of the issued common shares of the licensee, owning 50 per cent or more of those shares but not having, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, or

      • (iv) who own less than 50 per cent of the issued common shares of a person who has, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, owning 50 per cent or more of those shares but not having, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee; or

    • (d) another A.M. licensee, F.M. licensee or digital radio licensee that broadcasts in the same market and in the same language as the licensee, an associate of that other licensee or that other licensee together with its associate, who owns less than

      • (i) 30% of the issued common shares of the licensee or of a person who has, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, owning 30% or more but less than 40% of those shares, or

      • (ii) 40% of the issued common shares of the licensee or of a person who has, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, owning 40% or more but less than 50% of those shares.

  • (5) A licensee shall notify the Commission, within 30 days thereafter, of the occurrence of any act, agreement or transaction that, directly or indirectly, resulted in

    • (a) a person alone

      • (i) who controls less than 20 per cent of the voting interests of the licensee, having control of 20 per cent or more but less than 30 per cent of those interests,

      • (ii) who controls less than 20 per cent of the voting interests of a person who has, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, having control of 20 per cent or more but less than 30 per cent of those interests,

      • (iii) who controls less than 40 per cent of the voting interests of the licensee, having control of 40 per cent or more but less than 50 per cent of those interests but not having, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, or

      • (iv) who controls less than 40 per cent of the voting interests of a person who has, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, having control of 40 per cent or more but less than 50 per cent of those interests but not having, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee; or

    • (b) a person together with an associate

      • (i) who control less than 20 per cent of the voting interests of the licensee, having control of 20 per cent or more but less than 30 per cent of those interests,

      • (ii) who control less than 20 per cent of the voting interests of a person who has, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, having control of 20 per cent or more but less than 30 per cent of those interests,

      • (iii) who control less than 40 per cent of the voting interests of the licensee, having control of 40 per cent or more but less than 50 per cent of those interests but not having, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, or

      • (iv) who control less than 40 per cent of the voting interests of a person who has, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, having control of 40 per cent or more but less than 50 per cent of those interests but not having, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee.

  • (6) A notification referred to in subsection (5) shall set out the following information:

    • (a) the name of the person or the names of the person and the associate;

    • (b) the percentage of the voting interests controlled by the person or by the person and the associate; and

    • (c) a copy or a complete description of the act, agreement or transaction.

  • SOR/93-355, s. 2
  • SOR/96-324, s. 3
  • SOR/98-598, s. 1
  • SOR/2000-235, s. 3
  • SOR/2001-357, s. 1
  • SOR/2008-177, s. 6
 

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