PROVINCE LAUNCHES REVIEW OF SOCIETY ACT

The Province is embarking on a review of British Columbia’s Society Act to modernize and update the statute that provides rules for the registration and governance of not-for-profit organizations in B.C., Finance Minister Colin Hansen announced today.

“As part of the review, we’re inviting input from the more than 26,000 societies registered in B.C.,” said Hansen. “I encourage them and anyone else with interest in the legislation to take part. Their feedback will help determine what changes need to be made.”

This review forms part of the Province’s ongoing revision of important framework statutes in the corporate, commercial, real estate, and financial services sectors. In recent years, this process has resulted in several pieces of new or revised legislation.

Although the Society Act has occasionally been amended, it is outdated and in need of revision. There has been no comprehensive revision of the act since 1977. Other corporate statutes such as the Business Corporations Act, which governs companies, and the Cooperative Association Act, which governs cooperatives, have been completely rewritten within the last decade.

The review will address two fundamental structural questions. The first concerns the nature of the corporate model most appropriate for societies and whether a sophisticated business law framework should be adopted. The second issue concerns the extent to which the act should contain regulatory provisions or other rules that constrain the operation of societies. The deadline for feedback on the first phase of the review is April 1, 2010.

British Columbians are invited and encouraged to participate by providing their comments via the following methods:

Email: fcsp@gov.bc.ca
Mail:

Financial and Corporate Sector Policy Branch
Ministry of Finance
PO Box 9418 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, B.C. V8W 9V1
Phone: 250 387-1269

For more information, please visit http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/society_act_review.htm.