Happy new year, indeed. As we first reported in a
bulletin last year, Ontario is moving to ban the
expiration of rewards points based on the passage of time, and
implementing other controls and restrictions on rewards/loyalty
programs in the province. Effective January 1, 2018,
provisions will come into force under the Consumer
Protection Act, 2002 ("Act") and
the General Regulation (the
"Regulation") to regulate the expiry of rewards
points.
Notably, the retroactive application of the legislation has been
pulled back. When introduced in 2016, the Act contemplated that
program providers must reinstate points that had expired
between then and the date the legislation would come into force.
When the legislation now comes into force, over a year later, the
applicable sections of the Act (specifically, subsections 47.1(5),
(6) and (8)) will be simultaneously repealed.
