The Atlantic Accord Implementation Acts specify that the Chief Safety Officer and/or the Chief Conservation Officer may authorize the use of equipment, methods, measures or standards in lieu of any required by regulations, where those Officers are satisfied that the use of that other equipment and those other methods, measures or standards would provide a level of safety, protection of the environment and conservation equivalent to that provided by compliance with regulations. They may also grant an exemption from any regulatory requirement in respect of equipment, methods, measures or standards, where those Officers are satisfied with the level of safety, protection of the environment and conservation that will be achieved without compliance with that requirement. To document and process such requests from industry, along with requests to clarify the application of specific regulations in specific cases, the Board has developed a "regulatory query process", which the Operations and Safety Department administers.

If an Operator or installation owner requires clarification on, equivalency for or exemption from a regulatory requirement, the applicant must submit a Regulatory Query Form (RQF) outlining its proposal. For regulations related to the Certificate of Fitness, the proposal must be submitted to the Certifying Authority for their concurrence with the proposal. In addition, for Canadian flagged installations, where a similar requirement is in the Canada Shipping Act and associated regulations, the proposal must also be submitted to Transport Canada Marine Safety for review. The C-NLOPB may seek advice from Transport Canada Marine Safety on proposals related to marine matters on foreign flagged installations.

Following Certifying Authority and/or Transport Canada concurrence with the proposal where required, C-NLOPB staff will review the proposal. If C-NLOPB staff are satisfied that the applicant's proposal is sound, they will make a recommendation to the Chief Safety Officer and/or the Chief Conservation Officer regarding the approval of the proposal. The regulation for which exemption is being requested must be met until approval has been granted.