Acts & Regulations

The Atlantic Pilotage Authority (APA) was established February 1, 1972, pursuant to the Pilotage Act. The Authority is a Crown Corporation as defined by the Financial Administration Act (FAA) and is listed in Schedule III, Part I to that Act. The Authority is not an agent of the Crown.

The Board of the Authority consists of a part-time Chairperson and not more than six other members, all appointed by the Governor in Council.

The Chief Executive Officer has the direction and control of the day-to-day business of the Authority. The Authority is administered and controlled at its headquarters, which is located in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

What are we doing?

As a Crown Corporation, the Atlantic Pilotage Authority is responsible for the following:

General Pilotage Regulations (Common to the four Pilotage Authorities)
APA Regulations
Non-Compulsory Area Regulations (Ice Pilotage)

The Pilotage Act requires that pilotage tariffs be fixed at a level that permits the Authority to operate on a self-sustaining financial basis, and that the tariffs set be fair and reasonable. To achieve self-sufficiency, tariff adjustments are made based on the financial and operational issues within each port, rather than overall tariff increases that impact all areas. The goal is to have each area become financially self-sufficient to eliminate cross-subsidization among ports.

The Authority relies on projections of future traffic levels and the corresponding revenue and expenses to determine the financial health of the individual ports. All aspects of an area's operation are monitored to determine whether cost cutting measures are more appropriate to achieve a positive result before tariff increases are considered.

In response to Government of Canada initiatives, the Authority is also responsible for the following:

Departmental Actions to respond to the Red Tape Reduction Commission’s Recommendations Report
All of the government’s Acts and Regulations can be found on the Justice Canada website.

For More Information

To learn about upcoming or ongoing consultations on proposed federal regulations, visit the Canada Gazette and Consulting with Canadians websites.