New legislation proposed for the regulation of payment card systems
On March 29, 2010, Bill C-9 was tabled in the House of Commons of Canada for its first reading. Part 12 of Bill C-9 provides for the enactment of the Payment Card Networks Act (the PCN Act) - legislation which has the purpose of regulating national payment card networks and the commercial practices of payment card network operators. Among other things, the PCN Act confers a number of regulation-making powers upon the federal government.
Part 12 of Bill C-9 also makes related amendments to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Act (the FCAC Act) to expand the mandate of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada so that it may supervise payment card network operators to determine whether they are in compliance with the provisions of the PCN Act and its regulations and monitor the implementation of voluntary codes of conduct. Under the amended FCAC Act, payment card network operators can face penalties up to $200,000 for failure to comply with the PCN Act or its regulations.
