An agency is a department of a local or national government responsible for the oversight and administration of a specific function, such as a customs agency or a space agency.
Examples include Environment Agency of England and Wales and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Government agencies of Canada
See: Structure of the Canadian federal government
Government agencies in the United States
The U.S. Congress and President delegate specific authority to government agencies as means of regulating the complex facets of the modern American federal state. Also, most of the 50 American states have created similar government agencies, but with limited, state-level regulatory power. The agencies of the federal government are often divided into two categories:
Most federal agencies are created by Congress through statutes called "enabling statutes," that define the scope of an agency's authority. Because the Constitution does not sanction federal agencies (as it does the other branches), some commentators have called agencies the "headless fourth branch" of the tripartite federal government. By enacting the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in 1946, Congress established some means to oversee government agency action. The APA established uniform administrative law procedures for a federal agency's promulgation of rules, and adjudication of claims. The APA also sets forth the process for judicial review of agency action.
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