Manitoba Exempts Insurers From Negative Option Marketing Laws

Negative option marketing occurs when a business provides a consumer with goods or services (including an enhancement to a service that the consumer is already receiving) that the consumer did not ask for, and requires the consumer to pay for the goods or services unless the consumer informs the business that he/she does not want them. On September 15, 2010, amendments to Part XXI (Negative Option Marketing) of The Consumer Protection Act (Manitoba) the ("Act") came into force in Manitoba, banning negative option marketing in that province and creating specific remedies for aggrieved consumers affected by the practice. Upon conviction, businesses failing to comply with the negative option marketing legislation in Manitoba are subject to the greater of a fine of not more than $300,000 or three times the amount obtained as a result of negative option marketing, or to imprisonment for a maximum of three years, or to both.