The province-wide moratorium on applications for laboratory facilities and specimen collection stations operating under approvals continued under the LSA. Operators apply for consideration of an exemption to the moratorium when seeking approval to

• open a new outpatient laboratory facility or specimen collection facility
• expand and/or relocate an existing approved facility
• meet an urgent health or safety need
• meet a significant urgent business need

NOTE: There is no moratorium on requests to expand the existing test menus of an approved facility. Operators simply apply to add new services to their existing approval. Please email your request to labfacilities@phsa.ca.

In order to be considered for a moratorium exemption, applicants must

• demonstrate how the request meets the exemption criteria
  
• provide complete applicant, facility or specimen collection stations, and service information
• include additional relevant information to support the request
• submit the request through the secure upload tool* 
  

Moratorium Exemption Process

When an exemption request is received, the facility approval program reviews the submission, seeks additional information as needed, and determines whether the request meets the moratorium exemption criteria.

The moratorium exemption request incorporates the following elements.

• applicant name and contact information
• organization and facility location and contact information
• details of the request
• the services that are being applied for
• the type of application being sought
• how the exemption criteria applies
• supporting information or documents

During the moratorium exemption review process, the approval staff will evaluate the catchment area for like facilities and specimen collection stations to identify if there is a need, or if there is already a facility in the area that is not at capacity.