Home About The College Ontario College of Pharmacists’ Service Charter Service Charter: Regulatory Principles and Service Commitments

Service Charter: Regulatory Principles and Service Commitments

We’re serious about our values and principles and we are committed to living by them as a regulator.

Our Service Charter is an extension of the 2024-2028 Strategic Plan. The individual service commitments naturally build off the Board- defined regulatory principles that guide what it is we do and how we work. They ultimately reflect operational practices and are an expression of what you can expect when you interact with the College.

The Service Charter is our promise to you.

Send us a note at communications@ocpinfo.com to share your feedback and let us know how we are doing.

Learn more about each regulatory principle below.

1. Public protection

All our work is to ensure safe, competent and ethical professional practice.

We explicitly link the decisions we make to why they will be good for Ontario patients.

2. Partnerships

We engage and collaborate with Ontario patients and other health system partners to protect the public.

We work with partners, including patients, government, educators, other regulators, professional associations and others.

We consult with registrants and the Ontario public on proposed regulations, standards and policies.

Whenever we can, we share our documents and experiences with others in Canada and internationally to amplify benefit to patients.

We strive to be efficient by learning from other leading regulators nationally and internationally.

We provide input into relevant government and health system consultations.

We share data with external researchers in keeping with our research policy.

We respond to data requests within 10 business days and provide data within 30 business days.

3. Risk-based

We act to reduce or prevent harms. We use data to anticipate and measure risk. We measure the outcome of our actions and adapt our regulatory response to ensure the most beneficial impact.

We make decisions based on the available evidence.

We prioritize regulatory commitments in areas where data or other evidence indicates the greatest risk of harm to the public.

We collect the data needed to understand risk and we show the evidence we use in making decisions.

We evaluate the impact of our regulatory programs and initiatives, taking into consideration multiple dimensions and points of view.

4. Right-touch

Our regulatory actions are proportionate to the level of risk to the public.

We strive to eliminate requirements that do not clearly benefit patients or serve their needs.

Our Board specifically considers risk to patients in its decision making.

We define “risk of harm” broadly to encompass physical, mental/emotional or societal harm.

5. Culture

We believe in justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. We aim to identify, remove, and prevent inequalities.

We do not discriminate. We treat everyone fairly, regardless of who they are (e.g., race, age, sex, gender, disability, religion, sexual orientation).

We commit to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in all work with the profession, with pharmacy patients and internally.

We aim to enhance cultural safety, including Indigenous cultural humility, to minimize systemic inequities.

All staff, Board and Committee members complete EDI training.

We review our policy and program decisions using an EDI lens and explicitly consider identity data where available.

We avoid language in our work that condones or reinforces longstanding power imbalances.

6. Person-focused

We act with fairness and compassion toward all participating in our processes.

We treat you fairly and with sensitivity. You are not a problem to be solved.

We communicate and interact with you with respect, taking the time to listen and providing you with the opportunity to voice your concerns.

Everyone we interact with will have the opportunity to provide feedback. We will learn from your feedback on how we can improve our processes.

7. Transparency

We clearly communicate our expectations, requirements, activities and performance as transparently as possible.

We are clear regarding regulatory requirements.

We help you navigate regulatory procedures, like registration or making a complaint, and let you know how you can get more information if you need it.

Through our annual report, we show how registrant dues are used.

Our annual report provides clear and easily understandable information about our regulatory programs.

We keep you informed about what is going on, what to expect and when.

We respond to your inquiries by phone or email within 3 business days.
We provide your PACE assessment results within 10 business days. We provide your Jurisprudence, Ethics and Professionalism exam results within 5 weeks.
We complete new registrations in 30 calendar days from the time all required documents have been submitted.
We communicate assessment results and accreditation outcomes as quickly as we can. You can expect results of practice assessments of individual pharmacists or pharmacy technicians within 3 business days and results of pharmacy operational assessments within 10 business days. If we can’t meet these targets, we will let you know about our progress and next steps.
We complete investigations into complaints within 150 calendar days or let you know why we cannot do so.
We post all Board materials at least 7 calendar days before Board meetings. We post Board decisions within 5 business days after Board meetings.

8. Leadership and innovation

We will innovate and endeavour to drive change to most effectively address identified risk.

We are committed to innovation and regulatory best practices.

We dare to depart from convention and seek new approaches to reduce risk whenever the evidence or opportunity presents options.

We actively participate in provincial and national initiatives focused on best practices and innovative ways of doing things.

We present our work at regulatory conferences to foster the active exchange of ideas and regulatory developments.

DOWNLOAD SERVICE CHARTER

Helpful Links

Service Charter Overview

About The College

Board (Council) & Committees

Performance & Accountability

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

Protecting the Public

You & Your Pharmacy

About Find a Pharmacy or Pharmacy Professional

Complaints & Reports

Pharmacy Operational Assessment Process

Discipline Process

Professional Registration

Register as a Pharmacist

Register as a Pharmacy Technician

Registration Requirements

Fees & Timelines

Resolutions & Policies

Maintaining Your Registration

Two Part Register for Pharmacists

Practice & Education

Practice Tools

Quality Assurance Program

Opening & Operating a Pharmacy

Opening & Operating a Hospital Pharmacy

Quality Improvement Data for Pharmacy

Expanded Scope of Practice

Regulations & Standards

AIMS (Assurance and Improvement in Medication Safety)

Practice Policies & Guidelines

News & Resources

Key Initiatives & Consultations

Key Initiatives

Service Charter: Regulatory Principles and Service Commitments

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Learn more about each regulatory principle below.

Helpful Links