Negative Option Billing Regulations (SOR/2012-23)

• 5. (1) Before a person provides their express consent to receive an optional product or service from an institution, the institution must provide them, orally or in writing, with an initial disclosure statement that contains the information referred to in paragraphs 6(a) to (d) or a summary of that information.

• (2) An institution that provides the initial disclosure statement orally must also, without delay, provide it in writing.

6. Unless it has previously disclosed in writing the information required under this section, an institution that enters into an agreement with a person for an optional product or service must, within 30 days after entering into the agreement, provide the person with a subsequent disclosure statement containing all relevant information about the product or service, including:

• (a) a description of the product or service;

• (b) the term of the agreement;

• (c) the charges for the product or service or the method for determining the charges and an example to illustrate the method;

• (d) the conditions under which the person may cancel the product or service;

• (e) the date from which the product or service is available for use and, if different, from which charges apply; and

• (f) the steps required to use the product or service.

7. Any disclosure statement made in relation to an optional product or service that is provided on an ongoing basis, other than one provided in relation to a credit agreement, must specify that the person may cancel the product or service by notifying the institution that it is to be cancelled, that the cancellation will be effective as of the last day of the billing cycle or 30 days after the notification is received, whichever is earlier, and that on receipt of the notice, the institution must, without delay, refund or credit the person with the amount of any charges paid by the person for any part of the product or service that is unused as of the day the cancellation takes effect, to be calculated in accordance with the formula set out in section 9.

• 8. (1) An institution that makes any changes to the terms and conditions that apply in respect of an agreement for an optional product or service must, not less than 30 days before the day on which the changes take effect, disclose in writing to any person who subscribes to the product or service the changes to the information that was required to be disclosed in the initial disclosure statement.

• (2) If a person agrees to a promotional, preferential, introductory or special offer for an optional product or service, the institution must disclose to the person in a subsequent disclosure statement

  • (a) not less than 30 days before the expiry of an offer that comes to an end after a set period of time, the date on which the offer will come to an end and the charges that will be imposed for use of the product or service after that date; or

  • (b) without delay after the last use that is subject to an offer that expires after a set amount of use, the fact that the offer has come to an end and the method of imposing charges for subsequent use of the product or service.