Vol. 139, No. 13 — June 29, 2005

Registration
SOR/2005-187 June 7, 2005

PUBLIC OFFICERS ACT SEALS ACT

Regulations Amending the Formal Documents Regulations

P.C. 2005-1140 June 7, 2005

Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Industry, pursuant to section 3 (see footnote a) of the Public Officers Act and section 4 of the Seals Act, hereby makes the annexed Regulations Amending the Formal Documents Regulations.

REGULATIONS AMENDING THE FORMAL DOCUMENTS REGULATIONS

AMENDMENTS

1. Subsection 3(3) of the Formal Documents Regulations (see footnote 1) is replaced by the following:

(3) Any document in respect of the appointment of the Attorney General or the Minister of Industry, or in respect of the appointment of a person holding one of those offices to concurrently hold another office, that is required by these Regulations to be issued under seal and to be signed by the Attorney General or Registrar General may be signed by the Prime Minister.

2. (1) Subsection 4(5) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(2) Subsection 4(7) of the Regulations is repealed.

(3) Paragraph 4(9)(b) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(4) Section 4 of the Regulations is amended by adding the following after subsection (14):

3. (1) Subsection 8(3) of the Regulations is repealed.

(2) Subsection 8(5) of the Regulations is repealed.

COMING INTO FORCE

4. These Regulations come into force on the day on which they are registered.

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)

Description

The Formal Documents Regulations under the Public Officers Act and Seals Act are amended to modernize the text of the Regulations and to remove obsolete provisions in order to remove any confusion. The amendments to modernizing the text include:

• adding a reference to the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of Nunavut because only Yukon and the Northwest Territories are currently listed;
• correcting the reference to the "Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod" who since 1997 is called the "Usher of the Black Rod"; and
• correcting the reference to "Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary" who are now called "Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary".

The obsolete provisions being repealed include:

• the appointment of Commissioners under the Judges Act because the corresponding section of the Judges Act was repealed in 1970; and
• the grant of pardons by the Governor General because the Criminal Records Act gave the National Parole Board exclusive jurisdiction over pardons in 1992.

All the changes are non-substantive in nature and have the objective of streamlining the Registrar General of Canada's duties and eliminating unnecessary registration or filing of documents with the Registrar.

Alternatives

There are no alternatives to the regulatory amendments. The only way to correct or repeal the references is through a regulatory amendment.

Benefits and Costs

There is no cost to these Regulations. The benefit is for the Regulations to have modern and correct language in order to avoid confusion and to remove obsolete references.

Consultation

The public has not been consulted on these amendments since they will not be affected by them. These amendments only affect the machinery of government who has been appropriately consulted. This is the reason for the request for exemption from pre-publication.

Compliance and Enforcement

There is no compliance or enforcement required with respect to these amendments.

Contact

Coleen Kirby
Corporations Canada
Department of Industry
Jean Edmonds Tower South, 10th Floor
365 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0C8
Telephone: (613) 941-5720
FAX: (613) 941-5781
E-mail: kirby.coleen@ic.gc.ca

Footnote a

S.C. 2003, c. 22, par. 224(z.71)

Footnote 1

C.R.C., c. 1331

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