Canadian businesses spend an average of nearly $6,000 per employee each year on regulatory compliance, or red tape — about 45 per cent more than their counterparts in the United States, according to a study released Monday.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business, one of the country's largest private-sector lobby groups, says that red tape amounts to $5,942 per employee in Canada, compared with $4,084 in the United States.

The federation estimates that the total cost of regulation for Canadian businesses is $31 billion a year, a figure that has hardly changed since the group began tracking the cost in 2005.

Tony Clement, the minister who heads of the federal government's Treasury Board, says the Harper government began soliciting suggestions for reducing red tape in 2010 but adds it takes time to put changes into place

"We sought out advice from those most affected by red tape on how we could alleviate the situation," Clement said during a policy announcement Monday.

"We announced our plans to move forward with over 90 recommendations and what you're seeing now is the official roll out of these recommendations."

He added the government is aiming to cut the cost to business without compromising health or safety.

"We think there is a lot of room to reduce that burden without negatively impacting on Canadian's health and safety," Clement said.

Corporate reporting also being cut

CFIB executive vice-president Laura Jones said businesses in the United States and Canada indicate regulatory costs could be reduced by 30 per cent without harming important health and safety objectives.

Jones says her members don't have a problem with rules that govern health, safety and the environment but rather the "garden-variety red tape" that is detrimental to their businesses.

"It's really the bad government customer service, the confusing rules that deliver no health and safety benefit — that's what we're talking about when we talk about red tape," Jones said.

The CFIB's latest report was released at the beginning of what has been dubbed Red Tape Awareness week

Clement was at a downtown Toronto pharmacy to announce that regulated pharmacy technicians will now be able to oversee the transfer of prescriptions from one pharmacy to another — a task currently restricted to pharmacists.

The change will see Canadian pharmacies save $8.7 million per year in administrative costs related to proposed changes in federal food and drug regulations.

The policy change coincides with similar initiatives announced Monday by the federal government, including the reduction of corporate reporting for businesses with revenues between $10 million and $200 million.

It says the move will generate $1.2 million in reduced regulatory burden, and apply to about 32,000 businesses.

The government also announced that call agents at the Canada Revenue Agency will now have to provide an agent ID number when greeting business clients, to ensure more accountability.