The Fair Registration Practices Act (FRPA) (PDF) applies to 47 regulating bodies in Nova Scotia, covering 83 occupations, including 20 compulsory trades.
A regulatory body sets the standards and regulates how people practise as members of a regulated occupation. Everyone who practises a regulated occupation needs to register with the regulatory body.
The Act governs the practices regulatory bodies use to register people who apply to become a member of a regulated occupation. Under the Act, registration needs to follow a fair procedure and be transparent, objective, and impartial.
Government can directly regulate the occupations or delegate that authority to another organization.
The Review Officer administers the Fair Registration Practices Act to make sure registration practices are transparent, objective, impartial and procedurally fair. The Review Officer:
The Review Officer does not work with individual applicants to help with the registration process. This is the regulatory body’s responsibility.
All regulatory bodies need to provide information to the public in a clear and understandable way. They need to provide information on:
Regulatory bodies also need to:
For more information, contact the Review Officer.
Regulatory bodies need to offer registration practices that are transparent, impartial, objective and procedurally fair for all individuals, including applicants who earned their qualifications outside Canada.
To accommodate all applicants, regulatory bodies must have clear pathways to registration for three applicant types: Nova Scotia; domestic and; international.
The International Qualification Recognition and Recognition of Prior Learning Funding Programs can help regulatory bodies develop programs, resources and services that support learning recognition (like bridging programs, pre-arrival supports, competency-based assessments) and facilitate pathways to registration.
Regulatory bodies need to have transparent, objective, impartial and procedurally fair registration practices that are consistent with workers’ mobility rights under the Canada Free Trade Agreement (CFTA).
Learn more: Labour Mobility