Government Notices — Other

Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (“FSRA”)

Coming into Force Of: Amendment 1 – Deferred Sales Charges – Issuing and Changing Individual Variable Insurance Contracts (“amendment 1”).

On June 1, 2023, Amendment 1 to the Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices Rule (the “UDAP Rule”) came into force. Amendment 1 was created by FSRA pursuant to the rulemaking authority granted by clause (67) of s. 121.0.1(1) of the Insurance Act (the “Act”).

The UDAP Rule prescribes any “conduct, including inaction or omission, which results in, or could reasonably be expected to result in the outcomes, events or circumstances” listed therein to constitute an unfair or deceptive act or practice for the purpose of s. 438 of the Act.

Amendment 1 adds the following to the list of “outcomes, events or circumstances” contained in the UDAP Rule,

• an insurer issuing an individual variable insurance contract (“IVIC” or “IVICs”) on or after June 1, 2023, under which a person can invest money which may be subject to a deferred sales charge (“DSC or “DSCs”);
• an insurer amending an IVIC, on or after June 1, 2023, to permit or require payment of a DSC (i.e., to make a DSC available as a sales charge option under an IVIC, whether the contract was issued before, on or after June 1, 2023); and
• an insurer amending an IVIC, on or after June 1, 2023, so that a DSC becomes less favourable to an owner. This includes changes to an IVIC that increase the amount of an investment which may be subject to a DSC, increase the duration of a DSC, increase the amount due under a DSC or extend the number of circumstances that trigger payment of a DSC.

Amendment 1 also clarifies that, despite the prohibition on issuing IVICs that involve DSCs on or after June 1, 2023, an insurer can replace an existing IVIC that involves DSCs with another IVIC on substantially similar terms, such as where a registered retirement savings plan is replaced with a registered retirement income fund. For a replacement IVIC to be on substantially similar terms, each DSC period on the replacement IVIC must be reduced to reflect any applicable DSC period that elapsed under the replaced IVIC for the same money.

The full text of Amendment 1 and the consolidated and restated UDAP Rule are available on FSRA’s website at https://www.fsrao.ca/

(156-G083)

Marriage Act

certificate of permanent registration as a person authorized to solemnize marriage in Ontario have been issued to the following:

May 15, 2023 to May 21, 2023

certificates of temporary registration as person authorized to solemnize marriage in Ontario have been issued to the following:

May 15, 2023 to May 21, 2023

Alexandra Schmidt
Deputy Registrar General

(156-G084)