Have Your Say: Ontario Seeks Input on Consumer Protection Regulations

Did you know that the Ontario government is seeking input on consumer protection laws before it issues regulations under the Consumer Protection Act, 2023 (CPA). The CPA applies in respect of all consumer transactions if the consumer, or the person engaging in the transaction with the consumer, is located in Ontario when the transaction takes place. But you only have until March 12, 2025 to make submissions. It is easy enough to make a submission. You need to simply send your submission by email to consumerpolicy@ontario.ca.

The CPA received royal assent in December, 2023, but is not yet in force pending regulations. Please see this link to a statement from the Ontario government and scroll down to the link contained in it to the consultation paper that sets out what the government is seeking input on: View Statement.

In case you think this is not important, or relevant to what you do, please note that in Ontario, a consumer agreement means an agreement between a supplier and a consumer, in which the supplier agrees to supply goods or services for payment, or the supplier agrees to provide reward points to the consumer under certain situations. A consumer is an individual acting for personal, family, or household purposes, and does not include a person who is acting for business purposes.

However, there are many businesses that interact with consumers, and they need to pay attention as suppliers of goods or services. There are various types of consumer agreements, including internet agreements. There are requirements that need to be met under the current, Consumer Protection Act, 2002 which will in some fashion carry forward into the regulations under the Consumer Protection Act, 2023 and apply to internet agreements among others.

Some of the topics that are being considered for consultation and which may be worth your time and effort to make submissions on include:

1. Threshold Value: the current threshold value for a consumer agreement is $50. It is anticipated that that will carry forward into the new regulations. Is that too low a threshold? Should the threshold apply to all agreements or should there be different thresholds for different types of agreements?

2. Express Consent : there is consideration being given to more restrictions on suppliers from being able to amend contracts unilaterally. The government is considering whether to require suppliers to obtain express consumer consent to initiate an amendment or continuation of a contract. How would express consent be obtained? Would it be a meaningful consent?

3. Retroactivity: consideration is being given to having the new regulations apply to consumer agreements entered into before the new laws come into force. Is that appropriate or should they apply only prospectively?

4. Advance Notice: the government is also considering requiring suppliers to provide advanced notice of potential amendments or continuations of contracts. What information would need to be provided to the consumer in such situations?

5. Core Set of Rules: the government is considering having a core set of rules for most consumer agreements, and those rules would be required to be in the consumer agreements. Consideration needs to be given to the right balance between disclosure of information, but meaningful information. There needs to be a balance between too much detail and clear easily understood rules that consumer can follow. As well, should there be different rules between goods and services. The delivery of tangible goods may require different sets of information from the delivery of services.

If appropriate, please make your views known in this consultation period.