The National Building Code (NBC) was published in an objective-based code format for the first time in 2005. This was the result of ten years of work on an initiative that arose out of the strategic plan adopted by the Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes (CCBFC) in 1995.

The NBC comprises three Divisions:

• Division A, which defines the scope of the Code and contains the objectives, the functional statements and the conditions necessary to achieve compliance;
• Division B, which contains acceptable solutions (commonly referred to as "technical requirements") deemed to satisfy the objectives and functional statements listed in Division A; and
• Division C, which contains administrative provisions.

A more complete description of this division-based structure is included in the section entitled Structure of Objective-Based Codes.

Each requirement in Division B is linked to three types of information:

• objectives (such as safety or health), which individual requirements help to address,
• functional statements (statements on the functions of the building that a particular requirement helps to achieve), and
• intent statements (detailed statements on the specific intent of the provision).