Bill 55 explained in plain English
Stronger Protection for Ontario Consumers Act, 2013
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 40th 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
The Stronger Protection for Ontario Consumers Act, 2013, enacts new rules and amends existing laws to better protect consumers in debt settlement, direct sales, and real estate transactions.
The Stronger Protection for Ontario Consumers Act, 2013, amends several Ontario laws to enhance consumer protection. Key changes include new regulations for debt settlement services, extended cooling-off periods for certain direct agreements, and updated record-keeping and disclosure requirements for real estate transactions. The Act aims to provide clearer rights and protections for consumers in these areas.
- Amends the Collection Agencies Act to regulate debt settlement services, requiring written agreements, specifying disclosures, and establishing cancellation rights for consumers.
- Amends the Consumer Protection Act, 2002, to introduce a 20-day cooling-off period for direct agreements involving water heaters or other prescribed goods/services, and deeming goods/services provided in violation of this period as unsolicited.
- Amends the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act, 2002, to require written offers for real estate and mandate brokerages to retain records of offers, while allowing buyers to request the number of offers received.
- Changes the title of the Collection Agencies Act to the Collection and Debt Settlement Services Act.
- Makes consequential amendments to other Ontario statutes to reflect the title change of the Collection Agencies Act.
- Consumers who engage with debt settlement services.
- Debtors seeking to negotiate with creditors.
- Consumers entering into direct agreements for water heaters or other prescribed goods/services.
- Suppliers of water heaters or other prescribed goods/services under direct agreements.
- Individuals and entities involved in real estate transactions as buyers or sellers.
- Registered real estate brokerages and their agents.
- Collection agencies and their collectors.
- The Ministry of Consumer Services (or equivalent, responsible for regulations and enforcement).
- Debtors have the right to cancel debt settlement services agreements within a specified period.
- Consumers have a 20-day cooling-off period for certain direct agreements.
- Collection agencies must use written agreements for debt settlement services and provide specific disclosures.
- Real estate brokerages must retain records of written offers to purchase real estate.
- Buyers can request the number of written offers received for a property.
- The Act received Royal Assent on December 12, 2013.
- The main provisions of the Act came into force on the day it received Royal Assent.
- Some provisions within Schedule 1 (Collection Agencies Act amendments) come into force on a day named by proclamation.
- Section 3, subsection 4 (2) and section 5 of Schedule 2 (Consumer Protection Act, 2002 amendments) come into force on a day named by proclamation.
- Section 1 of Schedule 3 (Real Estate and Business Brokers Act, 2002 amendments) comes into force on a day named by proclamation.
- The Act may impact the financial arrangements between consumers and debt settlement services providers, including restrictions on advance payments.
- Consumers may be eligible for refunds for payments made under debt settlement services agreements if certain conditions are not met or if the agreement is cancelled.
- Real estate brokerages may incur costs related to record-keeping for offers.
- Contravention of certain requirements in the amended Collection Agencies Act constitutes a strict liability offence.
- Penalties for offences under the Collection Agencies Act can include fines and imprisonment for individuals, and higher fines for corporations.
- The Registrar under the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act, 2002, has the authority to take action against registrants.
- The Act allows for legal actions by debtors to recover payments made in contravention of its provisions, with potential for exemplary or punitive damages.
- The exact commencement date for certain provisions within the Schedules is not specified and will be proclaimed by the Lieutenant Governor.
- Specific details regarding 'prescribed' goods, services, representations, fees, and requirements are to be defined in regulations, which are not detailed in the provided text.
- The scope of 'debt settlement services' and the exact requirements for 'related agreements' and 'other payment instruments' will be further clarified by regulations.
- The effectiveness of the 'anti-avoidance' provision in determining the real substance of entities or transactions is subject to interpretation by courts or tribunals.
This Act is amended to regulate debt settlement services, requiring collection agencies and collectors to have written agreements with debtors, provide specific disclosures, and adhere to rules regarding advance payments. It also introduces a right for debtors to cancel these agreements within a specified period and establishes a strict liability offence for contravening certain requirements.
Source: Schedule 1
The title of the Act is changed to the Collection and Debt Settlement Services Act.
Source: Schedule 1, Section 1
This Act is amended to introduce a 20-day cooling-off period for direct agreements concerning water heaters or other prescribed goods/services. If a supplier provides these before the cooling-off period expires, the goods/services are considered unsolicited, and the supplier may be liable for related third-party charges incurred by the consumer.
Source: Schedule 2
This Act is amended to require that offers to purchase real estate must be in writing. Brokerages acting for sellers must keep records of all written offers and related documents. The registrar can be asked to determine and disclose the number of written offers a brokerage received for a property, but not the substance or identities involved.
Source: Schedule 3
Consequential amendments are made to various other Ontario Acts to replace references to the 'Collection Agencies Act' with 'Collection and Debt Settlement Services Act' to reflect the title change.
Source: Schedules 1
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.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill does not have a published recorded division in the current official sources, so representative-by-representative vote counts are not shown.
No published representative vote breakdown
The current official sources do not publish a recorded division breakdown for this bill, so there is no representative-by-representative table to show.
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