Bill 133 explained in plain English
Wireless Phone, Smart Phone and Data Service Transparency Act, 2011
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
This Ontario bill establishes transparency and consumer protection rules for agreements related to wireless phone, smartphone, and data services.
This Ontario bill, the Wireless Phone, Smart Phone and Data Service Transparency Act, 2010, aims to protect consumers by requiring more transparency in agreements for wireless phone, smartphone, and data services. It sets rules for how these agreements must be written, what information they must include, and how they can be cancelled or renewed. It also includes rules about advertising and pre-paid cards.
- Requires agreements for wireless phone, smartphone, and data services to be in plain language.
- Mandates that agreements clearly describe services, goods, and all associated costs, including discounts and their duration.
- Requires suppliers to remove technological restrictions on goods when the agreement ends or when the consumer pays full price for the goods.
- Requires suppliers to notify consumers when they reach 90% of their service limit or are about to incur charges outside geographical limits.
- Prohibits the automatic renewal of agreements and requires express consumer consent for amendments or renewals.
- Allows consumers to cancel agreements at any time with 30 days' notice, and limits cancellation fees.
- Sets rules for advertising service prices, requiring more prominent display of total costs.
- Prohibits the sale of pre-paid cards that have an expiry date or a specific activation date.
- States that if there is a conflict between this Act and another law or regulation regarding agreement requirements, the law that offers the most consumer protection applies.
- Consumers of wireless phone, smartphone, and data services in Ontario.
- Suppliers of wireless phone, smartphone, and data services in Ontario.
- Consumers have the right to agreements written in plain language.
- Consumers have the right to detailed information about services, costs, and goods.
- Consumers have the right to cancellation of agreements with 30 days' notice.
- Consumers have the right to have technological restrictions removed from goods under certain conditions.
- Suppliers have the obligation to provide clear and detailed agreements.
- Suppliers have the obligation to notify consumers about service limits and potential charges.
- Suppliers have the obligation to remove technological restrictions on goods.
- Suppliers have the obligation to obtain express consent for agreement amendments or renewals.
- Suppliers have the obligation to adhere to rules regarding cancellation fees.
- Suppliers have the obligation to follow advertising rules.
- Suppliers have the obligation not to sell pre-paid cards with expiry dates.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Cancellation fees for consumers are limited.
- Additional cancellation fees may be charged by suppliers in specific circumstances involving discounted or free goods, calculated based on the original value of the goods and the remaining duration of the agreement.
- The enforcement provisions of Part IX of the Consumer Protection Act, 2002, apply to this Act.
- The bill does not specify the exact penalties for non-compliance, only that the enforcement provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2002, apply.
- The bill applies to 'future performance agreements,' but the exact timeframe for what constitutes 'future' is not explicitly defined beyond the point of entering into the agreement.
- The term 'plain language' is used, but specific guidelines for its interpretation are not detailed within the bill text.
The general definitions and enforcement provisions (Part IX) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2002, will apply to agreements covered by this new Act, with necessary adjustments.
Source: Section 9
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
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Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced