GENERAL

Marginal note:Designation of beneficiaries — provincial law

63. Except to the extent that they are inconsistent with this Act, any provisions of any provincial law respecting the designation of beneficiaries that would be applicable to a pension plan are deemed to apply to members who are employed in included employment as though that employment were not included employment.

Marginal note:Electronic communications

• 64. (1) Any requirement under this Act to provide a person with information, including information in a document, may be satisfied by the provision of an electronic document if

  • (a) the addressee has consented and has designated an information system for the receipt of the electronic document;

  • (b) the electronic document is provided to the designated information system; and

  • (c) the information in the electronic document is accessible by the addressee and capable of being retained by the addressee, so as to be usable for subsequent reference.

• Meaning of “information system”

  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), “information system” means a system used to generate, send, receive, store or otherwise process an electronic document.

• Marginal note:Revocation of consent

  (3) An addressee may revoke the consent referred to in paragraph (1)(a).

• Marginal note:Non-application

  (4) Subsections (1) and (3) do not apply

  • (a) to any requirement under this Act to provide the Minister or the Superintendent with information;

  • (b) to any requirement under this Act, imposed on the Minister or the Superintendent, to provide a person with information; or

  • (c) to any requirement under this Act exempted, by regulation, from the application of those subsections.

• Marginal note:Communications by Minister or Superintendent

  (5) For greater certainty, the Minister and the Superintendent may use electronic means to communicate information, including information in a document, under this Act.

Marginal note:Signatures

65. A requirement under this Act for a signature is satisfied in relation to an electronic document if any prescribed requirements are met and if the signature results from the use by a person of a technology or a process that permits the following to be proven:

• (a) the signature resulting from the use by the person of the technology or process is unique to them;

• (b) the technology or process is used by the person to incorporate, attach or associate their signature to the electronic document; and

• (c) the technology or process can be used to identify its user.

Marginal note:Enforcement of direction

• 66. (1) A direction of the Superintendent may be made an order of the Federal Court and is enforceable in the same manner as such an order.

• Marginal note:Procedure

  (2) To make a direction of the Superintendent an order of the Federal Court, the Superintendent must file with the registrar of the Federal Court a certified copy of the direction, signed by the Superintendent, at which time the direction becomes an order of the court.

• Marginal note:Effect of variation or rescission

  (3) If a direction of the Superintendent that has been made an order of the Federal Court is rescinded or varied by a subsequent direction of the Superintendent, the order of the Federal Court is deemed to have been cancelled and the subsequent direction may be made an order of the court.

• Marginal note:Option to enforce

  (4) The Superintendent may, before or after one of his or her directions is made an order of the Federal Court, enforce the direction by his or her own action.

Marginal note:Application to Federal Court

• 67. (1) If an administrator, employer or other person has omitted to do anything under this Act that is required to be done by them or on their part or contravenes a provision of this Act or the regulations, the Superintendent may, in addition to any other action that the Superintendent may take, apply to the Federal Court for an order requiring the administrator, employer or other person to cease the contravention or to do anything that is required to be done, and on such an application the Federal Court may make that order and make any other order that it thinks fit.

• Marginal note:Appeal

  (2) An appeal from an order made under subsection (1) lies in the same manner as an appeal from any other order of the Federal Court.

Marginal note:Superintendent may bring actions

68. In addition to any other action that the Superintendent may take in respect of a pooled registered pension plan, the Superintendent may institute against the administrator, employer or any other person any legal proceedings that a member could institute.

Marginal note:Inspection

• 69. (1) The Superintendent or any person authorized in writing by the Superintendent may, for a purpose related to verifying compliance with this Act,

  • (a) examine any book, record or other document, regardless of its physical form or characteristics, relating to a pooled registered pension plan or to any securities, obligations or other investments in which any assets of the pooled registered pension plan are invested; and

  • (b) require the administrator of a pooled registered pension plan to furnish any information in any form that, in the Superintendent’s opinion, is necessary.

• Marginal note:Powers of Superintendent

  (2) The Superintendent has the same powers as those conferred on commissioners under Part II of the Inquiries Act with respect to the taking of evidence.

• Marginal note:Payment of expenses

  (3) If the Superintendent directs an administrator to pay the fees and expenses of persons appointed on a temporary basis from outside the public service for the purposes of an inspection under paragraph (1)(a), including their fees and expenses related to preparing a report to the Superintendent, the administrator must not pay those fees and expenses from the assets of the plan.

Marginal note:No action against person for withholding, etc.

70. No action lies against any person for withholding, deducting, paying or crediting any sum of money if they do so under this Act or in the belief that they are doing so under this Act.

Marginal note:Agreement in contravention of Act

71. Any agreement or arrangement that, in contravention of this Act, requires a person to not withhold, deduct, pay or credit an amount is void or, in Quebec, null.

Marginal note:Agreement to transfer, etc.

72. Subject to any other provision of this Act and the regulations, any agreement or arrangement to transfer, charge, anticipate or give as security any of the following is void or, in Quebec, null:

• (a) any funds in an account with a pooled registered pension plan or a right or interest in those funds; or

• (b) any funds withdrawn from a member’s account under section 54 or a right or interest in those funds.

Marginal note:Agreement to surrender

• 73. (1) Any agreement or arrangement to surrender any of the following is void or, in Quebec, null:

  • (a) a right or interest in any funds in an account with a pooled registered pension plan; or

  • (b) a right or interest in any funds withdrawn from a member’s accounts under section 54.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to prevent the surrender of an interest or right made under subsection 52(3).

Marginal note:Non-application of Statutory Instruments Act

74. The Statutory Instruments Act does not apply to a direction issued by the Superintendent under this Act.

OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENT

Marginal note:Offences

• 75. (1) Every person is guilty of an offence who

  • (a) contravenes any provision of this Act or the regulations or a direction of the Superintendent given under this Act;

  • (b) to avoid compliance with a provision of this Act or the regulations,

    • (i) destroys, alters, mutilates, secretes or otherwise disposes of any record, writing or other document,

    • (ii) in any record, writing or other document, makes a false or deceptive statement or a false or deceptive entry, or

    • (iii) omits to furnish any material particular in any statement or in any record, writing or other document;

  • (c) knowingly prevents or obstructs, or attempts to prevent or obstruct, another person from doing anything that the other person is authorized to do under section 69 or, unless unable to do so, fails to do anything that is required to be done under that section; or

  • (d) being an employer, fails to remit to the administrator all amounts that the employer is liable to so remit.

• Marginal note:Defense of due diligence

  (2) A person is not to be found guilty of an offence under paragraph (1)(a) or (d) if the person establishes that he or she exercised due diligence to prevent the commission of the offence.

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (3) A person who commits an offence under this Act is

  • (a) in the case of a natural person, liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or to both; and

  • (b) in the case of a corporation or other body, liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $500,000.

• Marginal note:Remittance of amount owing

  (4) The court may also order the employer that is found guilty of the offence referred to in paragraph (1)(d) to remit to the administrator all amounts owing with interest.

• Marginal note:Evidence

  (5) In any prosecution for an offence under this Act, a certificate purporting to be signed by the Superintendent or by any person on the Superintendent’s behalf certifying that a copy of a pooled registered pension plan or of an amendment to that plan was not filed with the Superintendent as required by this Act, or certifying as to the registration of a pooled registered pension plan, is admissible in evidence and, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, is proof of the matters so certified.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (6) Proceedings in respect of an offence under this Act may be commenced within two years after the day on which the subject matter of the proceedings became known to the Superintendent.

• Marginal note:Certificate of Superintendent

  (7) A document that appears to have been issued by the Superintendent, certifying the day on which the subject matter of any proceedings became known to the Superintendent, is admissible in evidence without proof of the signature or official character of the person appearing to have signed it and is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, proof of the matter asserted in it.

• Marginal note:Corporations and other bodies

  (8) If a corporation or other body commits an offence under this Act, an officer, a director, an agent or mandatary or a member of the corporation or body who directed, authorized, assented to or acquiesced or participated in the commission of the offence is a party to the offence and liable, on summary conviction, to the punishment provided for the offence, whether or not the corporation or body has been prosecuted or convicted.

• Marginal note:Informations and complaints

  (9) An information or complaint under this section may be laid or made by any officer of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, any member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or any person authorized in writing by the Minister.

REGULATIONS

Marginal note:Governor in Council

• 76. (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations

  • (a) respecting the terms and conditions for issuing a licence, the method for recovering the costs of licensing, and the number and scope of pooled registered pension plans that may be offered by an administrator;

  • (b) designating any province in which there is in force legislation similar to this Act;

  • (c) respecting the implementation of a multilateral agreement;

  • (d) exempting a multilateral agreement or any provision of that agreement from the application of subsection 7(1);

  • (e) respecting the management and investment of funds in members’ accounts, including the way in which the funds are to be held;

  • (f) respecting the process by which investment options are offered by an administrator and choices among those options are made;

  • (g) respecting investment options offered by an administrator;

  • (h) specifying the circumstances in which an administrator may change an investment choice made by a member;

  • (i) specifying the circumstances in which inducements may be given or offered by an administrator or demanded or accepted by an employer, and the types of inducements that may be given, offered, demanded or accepted;

  • (j) establishing criteria for determining whether a pooled registered pension plan is low-cost for the purposes of section 26;

  • (k) respecting the manner and frequency of remittances from the employer to the administrator;

  • (l) specifying the form and content of a notice to be provided under this Act as well as the manner in which and the period within which it is to be provided;

  • (m) respecting the setting of a contribution rate of 0% under subsection 45(2);

  • (n) respecting the circumstances in which a member or administrator is permitted to withdraw the funds in a member’s account;

  • (o) defining “disability” for the purposes of paragraph 47(2)(a);

  • (p) respecting variable payments;

  • (q) respecting the transfer of funds from the account of a member by the administrator;

  • (r) respecting the distribution of the funds in members’ accounts with a pooled registered pension plan that is being wound up;

  • (s) prescribing any measure necessary for the purposes of sections 64 and 65, including the time when and circumstances under which an electronic document is to be considered to have been provided or received and the place where it is considered to have been provided or received;

  • (t) exempting from the application of subsections 64(1) and (3) any requirement under this Act to provide a person with information;

  • (u) prescribing anything that by this Act is to be prescribed; and

  • (v) generally for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act.

• Marginal note:Exceptions from included employment

  (2) The Governor in Council may make regulations excluding from included employment

  • (a) employment by an agent of Her Majesty in right of Canada; and

  • (b) any other employment if the Governor in Council, on a report of the Minister, is satisfied that provision has been made for the coverage of employees employed in that employment under the terms of a pension plan that is organized and administered for the benefit primarily of employees employed in other than included employment and that is required to be registered under the law of a designated province.

• Marginal note:General or specific application

  (3) A regulation made under this Act may be made applicable generally to all pooled registered pension plans or specifically to one or more pooled registered pension plans.

Marginal note:Incorporation by reference

• 77. (1) A regulation made under this Act may incorporate by reference a document produced by a person or body other than the Minister or the Superintendent.

• Marginal note:Reproduced or translated document

  (2) A regulation may incorporate by reference a document that the Minister or Superintendent reproduces or translates from a document produced by a person or body other than the Minister or Superintendent, with any adaptations of form or reference that will facilitate its incorporation.

• Marginal note:Jointly produced document

  (3) A regulation may incorporate by reference a document that the Minister or Superintendent produces jointly with a provincial or government agency for the purpose of harmonizing the regulation with other laws.

• Marginal note:Scope of incorporation

  (4) A document may be incorporated by reference as it exists on a particular date or as it is amended from time to time.

• Marginal note:Defence

  (5) No person may be convicted of an offence or subjected to a penalty for the contravention of a regulation if a document that is relevant to the offence or contravention is incorporated by reference in the regulation unless it is proved that, at the time of the alleged contravention, the document was reasonably accessible to the person or reasonable steps had been taken to ensure that the document was accessible to the public.

• Marginal note:Registration and publication

  (6) For greater certainty, a document that is incorporated by reference in a regulation is not required to be transmitted for registration or published in the Canada Gazette by reason only that it is incorporated by reference.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (7) A regulation that is specifically applicable to one pooled registered pension plan or one employer may not incorporate by reference a document produced by the employer or administrator or any person related to either of them, including any body corporate that — within the meaning of subsections 2(2), (4) and (5) of the Canada Business Corporations Act — is affiliated with either of them or is the holding body corporate or a subsidiary of either of them.

ANNUAL REPORT

Marginal note:Annual report

78. The Superintendent must, as soon as feasible after the end of each fiscal year, submit to the Minister a report on the operation of this Act during that year, and the Minister must cause the report to be laid before each House of Parliament on any of the first 15 days on which that House is sitting after the day the Minister receives it.