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1998/99 Legislative Session: 3rd Session, 36th Parliament

FIRST READING

The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.

The printed version remains the official version.

HONOURABLE IAN WADDELL

MINISTER OF SMALL BUSINESS,

TOURISM AND CULTURE

BILL 43 – 1998

BUSINESS PAPER REDUCTION ACT

Contents

Section

Definitions

Purpose

Designation

A person may choose whether to use this Act unless specifically provided otherwise

Simplifying procedures and requirements

Electronic and other filings, databases and fees

Time or date of electronic filing

Effect of electronic information and records

Signature

Databases

Records

Representatives may access information

Conversion of records

Standards

Business identifiers

Agreements

Government immunity

Section 5 Offence Act disapplied

Regulations, orders in council and records require minister's consent

Regulations

Commencement

HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province

of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

Definitions

1 In this Act:

"business" means

(

a) an individual who, for the purpose of gain or profit, is carrying on a

commercial or industrial undertaking of any kind or providing professional,

personal or other services, and

(

b) a corporation, whether or not operating for the purpose of gain or profit;

"designated Act" means

an Act or a portion of

an Act designated under

section 3;

"file" means to file, register, submit, deposit, apply or otherwise make available;

"minister responsible for a designated Act" means the minister charged with the

administration of a designated Act or a person designated by that minister;

"official" means, with respect to a designated Act, a prescribed official;

"record" includes any form, document, map, drawing, photograph, letter, voucher,

paper and any other thing by which information is recorded or stored by any

means whether graphic, electronic, mechanical or otherwise;

"under this Act" includes something that is done under a regulation made under this

Act.

Purpose

2 The purpose of this Act is to facilitate streamlining of the ways that businesses deal

with the Provincial and local governments by

(

a) simplifying the procedures for businesses to provide information, file

reports, make applications and meet other administrative requirements

under other Acts,

(

b) promoting the co-ordination of licensing and reporting requirements under

2 or more Acts to reduce duplication of effort, inconvenience and delay for

businesses, and

(

c) allowing businesses to use new technologies to reduce inconvenience and

delay in making applications or reports required under other Acts.

Designation

(1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may, by regulation, designate

an Act or a

portion of

an Act for the purposes of this Act.

(2) Sections 4 to 20 apply to a designated Act.

A person may choose whether to use this

Act unless specifically provided otherwise

(1) If there is a conflict between a provision of this Act or a regulation made under

this Act and a provision of a designated Act or a regulation made under a

designated Act, a person may choose which provision to follow.

(2) Despite subsection (1), a provision of a regulation made under this Act prevails

over a provision of another Act or a regulation made under that Act if it expressly

indicates that it prevails.

(3) Despite subsections (1) and (2), a provision of a designated Act or a regulation

made under a designated Act prevails over a provision of this Act or a regulation

made under this Act if it expressly indicates that it prevails.

Simplifying procedures and requirements

(1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations respecting the

following:

(

a) unifying procedures for businesses to file information and records under

designated Acts;

(

b) unifying financial and statistical reporting requirements and procedures for

businesses under designated Acts;

(

c) establishing common dates or time periods for businesses to file

information or to pay fees or other charges under designated Acts;

(

d) establishing methods for allocating a payment made by a business of less

than the full amount of its liability under the designated Acts in respect of

which the payment was made;

(

e) establishing acceptable methods of payments under a designated Act;

(

f) changing the start date or duration for licences or permits granted under a

designated Act;

(

g) changing the frequency of filing or other forms of reporting required under

a designated Act;

(

h) respecting matters related to procedures provided for under the authority of

this Act.

(2) Nothing in this

section affects a provision in a designated Act with respect to the

maintenance of separate funds or the priority of entitlement to funds under the

designated Act.

Electronic and other filings, databases and fees

6 The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations

(

a) requiring or permitting information, that businesses are permitted or

required to file under this Act or a designated Act, to be filed and

maintained in an electronic or other format or in a combination of formats,

(

b) requiring or permitting information and records, that businesses are

permitted or required to file under this Act or a designated Act, to be transmitted,

either electronically or by another method, to an electronic or other

database,

(

c) requiring or permitting records, that businesses are permitted or required to

file under this Act or a designated Act, to be signed by an electronic

signature or to be identified by a prescribed method, and providing that the

electronic signature or other method of identification has the same effect for

all purposes as a signature,

(

d) requiring or permitting records, that businesses are permitted or required to

file under this Act or a designated Act, to be filed without signatures, and

providing that each record has the same effect for all purposes as if it had

the signatures that would otherwise have been required,

(

e) respecting fees or other charges for filing information or records under this

Act,

(

f) respecting fees or other charges, that replace fees or other charges

prescribed under a designated Act, for filing information or records using

the procedures set out in the regulations to this Act instead of the procedures

set out in a designated Act or regulations to a designated Act,

(

g) respecting the requirements that a person must meet to send or receive

information or records in electronic or other format for the purposes of this

Act or a designated Act,

(

h) respecting the correction of errors made in an electronic or other filing,

(

i) respecting the verification of information or records filed under this Act,

(

j) requiring or permitting information or records to be sent by an official in

electronic or other format, and

(

k) respecting access to information that is filed or maintained in an electronic

or other format.

Time or date of electronic filing

7 The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations respecting the time and

date information or records filed under a designated Act by direct electronic transmission

or other form of transmission permitted under this Act are considered filed.

Effect of electronic information and records

(1) Information or records filed in electronic or other format under a designated Act

have the same effect for all purposes as if they had been in paper format if they

comply with this Act and the regulations made under this Act.

(2) Information or records filed in electronic or other format that is required or

permitted to be provided under a designated Act may be provided in any intelligible

format, and have the same effect, for all purposes, as the filed information

or records would have had if the filed information or records were in paper

format.

Signature

(1) A signature purporting to be that of an official on

(

a) a record filed under this Act, or

(

b) a related record that purports to be issued by an official

may be created, filed, maintained or reproduced by the official by any method

that allows the signature to be reproduced in an intelligible format.

(2) A signature that is created, filed, maintained or reproduced under subsection

(1) has the same effect for all purposes as the signature of the official.

Databases

(1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may, by regulation,

(

a) authorize the establishment of databases in electronic or other format for

information or records required or permitted to be filed or maintained under

this Act or a designated Act, or

(

b) provide for the maintenance of, access to, and use of, databases established

under this Act or a designated Act.

(2) If a designated Act requires that information or records be filed under that Act,

and that information or record is maintained in more than one format, the

Lieutenant Governor in Council may, by regulation, provide that only the

information or record in one or more of those formats is the information or record

that is required to be filed.

Records

(1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations respecting forms or

other records that have the same effect as forms or other records prescribed or

approved or otherwise created under designated Acts by the Lieutenant Governor

in Council, minister, board or any other entity.

(2) Without limiting subsection (1), in a regulation made under subsection (1) the

Lieutenant Governor in Council may prescribe a single form or other record that

has the same effect as a number of forms or other records prescribed, approved

or otherwise created under one or more designated Acts.

Representatives may access information

12 The Lieutenant Governor in Council may, by regulation and with or without restrictions,

authorize a person or a class of persons to file or access information that is

required or permitted to be filed or accessed under a designated Act.

Conversion of records

(1) An official may convert records filed or maintained under a designated Act into

an electronic or other format.

(2) An official must correct an error or omission made in converting records under

subsection (1), if satisfied that he or she knows the correct information that ought

to have been converted.

(3) A person who makes a correction under subsection (2) must note on the database

(

a) their name,

(

b) the time and date of the correction, and

(

c) the changes or corrections that were made.

(4) If a record is converted under this section, a copy of the record that is required or

permitted to be provided under the designated Act may be provided, in any intelligible

format that is reasonable in the circumstances, by an official or by a class

of persons authorized by regulation.

(5) A copy provided under subsection (4) has the same legal effect, for all purposes,

as the original record.

Standards

14 The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations respecting standards with

which persons are required to comply, in the definition, collection, transmission and

presentation of information under this Act.

Business identifiers

(1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may, by regulation,

(

a) establish a system for assigning numbers or other identifiers for identifying

businesses, and

(

b) provide for the use, that businesses are permitted or required to make, of the

number or other business identifier.

(2) The minister may, with the prior approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council,

enter into agreements on behalf of the government that provide for the integration

of a system of business identifiers established under this

section with any system

Agreements

16 The minister responsible for the administration of a designated Act or the minister

responsible for the administration of this Act may, with the prior approval of the

Lieutenant Governor in Council, enter into agreements on behalf of the government

with

(

b) a province,

(

c) a local government,

(

d) any other government in Canada or elsewhere not mentioned in

paragraphs (

a) to (c), or

(

e) an agent of a government referred to in paragraphs (

a) to (d),

to adopt common records, or common reporting or filing processes, with that

government, to share databases with that government or for any other purpose of this

Act.

Government immunity

17 The government is not liable either directly or vicariously for loss or damage suffered

by a person because of failure to file, or failure to file correctly, information

transmitted by direct electronic transmission under this Act or a designated Act to a

database maintained by the government if the person transmitting the information is

not an employee or agent of the government.

Section 5 Offence Act disapplied

Section 5 of the Offence Act does not apply to this Act or a regulation made under this

Act.

Regulations, orders in council and records require minister's consent

(1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council must not, under this Act, make a regulation

that affects the administration of a designated Act except on the recommendation

of the minister responsible for the designated Act.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a regulation that brings this Act or a portion of

this Act into force.

Regulations

(1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations referred to in

section 41 of the

Interpretation Act .

(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make

regulations respecting any matter indicated in this Act as a matter that may be

prescribed or dealt with by regulation.

(3) A regulation made under this Act may

(

a) provide differently for different persons, places, transactions, enactments or

things, and

(

b) confer a discretion on a person.

Commencement

21 This Act comes into force by regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

Explanatory Note

This Bill authorizes the Lieutenant Governor in Council to designate any Act, if the minister responsible for that Act consents.

Once

an Act is designated this Bill authorizes the Lieutenant Governor in Council, if the minister responsible for that Act consents, to make regulations to do the following:

simplify how information is filed under the designated Act;

unify filing requirements to avoid duplication between designated Acts;

improve the government's management of information;

allow businesses, at their option, to use new technologies to file information in ways and from locations that are more convenient for them.

Copyright © 1999: Queen's Printer, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada