Written by Jonathan McCullough and Nick Karakochuk

The effective date for all private companies governed by the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) (BCA) to maintain a "transparency register" has been postponed until October 1, 2020. This requirement was previously to come into effect on May 1, 2020. 

Bennett Jones, alongside other British Columbia law firms, reached out to the Ministry of Finance to request an extension to the original coming into force date of these amendments due to the challenges imposed on our clients as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The date was changed to October 1, 2020, pursuant to an Order of the Lieutenant Governor in Council of British Columbia. We will use the additional time granted by the provincial government to continue to work with our British Columbia clients to prepare and maintain their transparency registers in order to comply with the new requirements.

In addition to the extension of the in force date, the Order in Council referenced above introduced various changes to the legislative amendments which we had previously described in detail on March 18, 2020, in New Corporate Requirement - Transparency Registers for B.C. Private Companies. This post included a discussion of the content described below and we will be providing an update in the coming days to ensure that it is reflective of the revised legislation:

Significant Individuals

• An overview of how individuals qualify as significant individuals as a result of the amendments to the BCA, with respect to:
  • shareholdings;
  • board control;
  • joint or combined rights;
  • indirect control; and
  • deemed control.

Contents of Register

• The information the register must contain on every significant individual of the company.

Maintenance of Register

• The requirements for both companies and shareholders in requesting, confirming, updating and deleting information from the register.

Inspection of Register

• Who is allowed to access the register—and who is not.

Should you have questions, please contact a member of the Bennett Jones Financial Services group. In addition, please visit our COVID-19 Resource Centre for other COVID-19-related materials.