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Volume 65, No. 23

278/2022

The British Columbia Gazette,

Part II

December 31, 2022

B.C. Reg. 278/2022 , deposited December 19, 2022, under the POWER OF ATTORNEY ACT [section 41.1] and the ATTORNEY GENERAL STATUTES AMENDMENT ACT (No. 2), 2022 [section 20]. Order in Council 678/2022, approved and ordered December 19, 2022.

On the recommendation of the undersigned, the Lieutenant Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Executive Council, orders that, effective January 1, 2023,

(

a) sections 6 to 8 of the Attorney General Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), 2022 , S.B.C. 2022, c. 31, are brought into force, and

(

b) the Power of Attorney Regulation, B.C. Reg. 20/2011, is amended as set out in the attached Schedule.

— N. SHARMA, Attorney General ; N. CULLEN, Presiding Member of the Executive Council .

Schedule

1 The Power of Attorney Regulation, B.C. Reg. 20/2011, is amended by adding the following section:

Alternative process for witnessing signing and dating

2.1

(1) In this section:

"communicate" means communicate using audiovisual communication technology, including assistive technology for individuals who are hearing impaired or visually impaired, that enables individuals to communicate with each other by hearing and seeing each other;

"electronic presence" or "electronically present" means the circumstances in which 2 or more individuals in different locations communicate simultaneously to an extent that is similar to communication that would occur if all the individuals were physically present in the same location.

(2) For the purposes of

section 17.1 (1) [signing enduring power of attorney – alternative process] of the Act, an enduring power of attorney may be signed and dated while the following are in each other’s electronic presence:

(

a) the adult who makes the enduring power of attorney, and, if applicable, the person signing the enduring power of attorney on behalf of the adult who makes the enduring power of attorney;

(

b) the witness.

(3) For the purposes of

section 17.1 (2) of the Act, before exercising authority granted in an enduring power of attorney, the enduring power of attorney may be signed while the attorney and the witness are in each other’s electronic presence.

(4) For certainty, in the case of a person signing the enduring power of attorney on behalf of the adult who makes the enduring power of attorney,

(

a) the adult who makes the enduring power of attorney and the person signing on behalf of that adult must be in each other’s physical presence, and

(

b) the person signing on behalf of the adult who makes the enduring power of attorney and the witness may be in each other’s electronic presence.

(5) The witness referred to in subsections (2), (3) and (4) must be a lawyer or a member in good standing of the Society of Notaries Public of British Columbia.

(6) An enduring power of attorney may be signed and dated, as applicable, by signing and dating, complete and identical copies of the enduring power of attorney in counterpart.

(7) Copies of an enduring power of attorney are identical even if there are nonsubstantive differences in the format between the copies.

(8) An enduring power of attorney made in accordance with the alternative process established in this

section must include a statement that it was signed and dated in accordance with the alternative process.

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