Radio Regulations, 1986 (SOR/86-982)

PART I.1

Broadcasting Content

3 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.

3.1 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.

3.2 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.

• 4 (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.

• 5 (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.

Political Broadcasts

6 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

• 7 (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.

Logs and Records

• 8 (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.

Requests for Information

• 9 (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.

Affiliation

• 10 (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).

Ownership of Equipment and Facilities

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