The Honourable Mélanie Joly, M.P.
Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions
© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of the National Research Council Canada, 2025
Catalogue No. NR1-12E-PDF
ISSN 2562-1467
This document is available on the Government of Canada website at www.canada.ca.
This document is available in alternative formats upon request.
Table of contents
Minister's message
The Honourable Mélanie Joly, M.P.
I am pleased to present the National Research Council of Canada's report on fees for 2024 to 2025.
The Service Fees Act provides a modern legislative framework that enables cost-effective delivery of services and, through better reporting to Parliament, improves transparency and oversight.
The NRC works with industry, government and academia on a broad range of science and innovation activities. To recover the costs of performing research and technology development, the NRC has the authority to collect and re-spend revenues from external fees, as stipulated within its enabling legislation. NRC service fees for products available to the general public make up only a very small portion of NRC operations overall and consist of 2 categories of products: Certified Reference Material and National Building Codes.
The Service Fees Act enhances the transparency and accountability of fees charged by ISED and its portfolios. I support this reporting regime and I am committed to ensuring that Canadians and Canadian businesses receive quality services that reflect the principles of this Act.
The Honourable Mélanie Joly, M.P.
Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions
About this report
This report, which is tabled under section 20 of the Service Fees Act, the Low‑Materiality Fees Regulations, and subsection 4.2.9 of the Treasury Board Directive on Charging and Special Financial Authorities, contains information about the fees the National Research Council of Canada had the authority to charge in fiscal year 2024 to 2025.
The report covers fees that are subject to the Service Fees Act.
For reporting purposes, fees are categorized by fee-setting mechanism. There are three mechanisms:
- Act, regulation or fees notice: The authority to set these fees is delegated to a department, minister or Governor in Council pursuant to an act of Parliament.
- Contract: Ministers have the inherent authority to enter into contracts, which are usually negotiated between the minister and an individual or organization, and which cover fees and other terms and conditions. In some cases, that authority may also be provided by an act of Parliament.
- Market rate or auction: The authority to set these fees comes from an act of Parliament or a regulation, and the minister, department or Governor in Council has no control in determining the fee amount.
For fees set by act, regulation or fees notice, the report provides totals for fee groupings, as well as detailed information for each fee. For fees set by contract, the report provides totals only. The National Research Council of Canada did not have fees set by market rate or auction.
Fees charged by the National Research Council of Canada under the Access to Information Act are not subject to the Service Fees Act and are not included in this report. Information on the National Research Council of Canada's access to information fees can be found in our annual report to Parliament on the administration of the Access to Information Act.
Remissions
In fiscal year 2024 to 2025, the National Research Council of Canada was not subject to the requirements in section 7 of the Service Fees Act and had no authority to remit, so this report does not include remission amounts.
Overall totals, by fee-setting mechanism
The following table presents the total revenue, cost and remissions for all fees the National Research Council of Canada had the authority to charge in fiscal year 2024 to 2025, by fee-setting mechanism.
| Fee-setting mechanism | Revenue ($) | Cost ($) | Remissions ($) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fees set by contract | 172,602,666 | 154,169,397 | Remissions do not apply to fees set by contract. |
| Fees set by act, regulation or fees notice | 3,392,547 | 7,314,920 | These fees were not subject to remissions. |
| Total | 175,995,213 | 161,484,317 | These fees were not subject to remissions. |
Totals, by fee grouping, for fees set by act, regulation or fees notice
A fee grouping is a set of fees relating to a single business line, directorate or program that a department had the authority to charge for those activities.
This section presents, for each fee grouping, the total revenue, cost and remissions for all fees the National Research Council of Canada had the authority to charge in fiscal year 2024 to 2025 that are set by the following:
- An act
- A fees notice
Note that the NRC has the authority to provide discounts on fees, as such the fees may be subject to different fee amounts.
| Revenue ($) | Cost ($) | Remissions ($) |
|---|---|---|
| 2,258,758 | 372,022 | These fees were not subject to remissions. |
| Revenue ($) | Cost ($) | Remissions ($) |
|---|---|---|
| 1,133,789 | 6,942,898 | These fees were not subject to remissions. |
Beginning in fiscal year 2019 to 2020, the government provided the NRC with funding to allow electronic formats of the National Building Codes products to be available for free to the public with paper copies available at a reduced cost. The costs above represent the cost of all code-related activities, whereas the revenues represent charges for orders of paper copies.
Details on each fee set by act, regulation or fees notice
The full list of the National Research Council of Canada's fees set by contract with published amounts can be found on our virtual store web page.