On March 8, the Canadian Department of Finance
announced proposed
Regulations prohibiting most negative option billing
practices in the financial services sector. The proposed
regulations, which were formally published in the Canada
Gazette on March 12, would generally prohibit negative option
billing in that sector and require that financial institutions
provide consumers with adequate disclosure of the terms and
conditions of products and services offered by the institution. The
proposed regulations are open for public comment until April
11.
Scope
The proposed regulations apply to federally-regulated financial
institutions including banks and federally-regulated insurance
companies, as well as institutions' affiliates, agents and
representatives. Accordingly, a bank's investment dealer
subsidiary, for example, would be subject to the proposed
regulations. The regulations also distinguish between a
"primary financial product or service" and an
"optional
