Bill 198

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In Canada, Bill 198 is an Ontario legislative bill effective 1 October 2003 that encompasses many areas. It is perhaps best known for clauses that provide equivalent legislation to the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act to protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures. Thus, it is also known as the "Canadian Sarbanes and Oxley" Act or CSOX (see-socks).

On December 9, 2002, the Provincial Government of Ontario, Canada introduced an omnibus bill in the legislature entitled "Keeping the Promise for a Strong Economy Act (Budget Measures), 2002", now simply referred to as Bill 198. It was enacted as Chapter 22 of the Statutes of Ontario, 2002.

As a budgetary legislation, it touched on many different aspects of government operation. Provisions included measures about corporate disclosure, auto insurance and tax. Thus, only a small portion of Bill 198 was relevant to "Sarbanes-Oxley" issues.

Bill 198 builds on Multilateral Instrument 52-109 (MI 52-109) or Policy 52-109, which began in 2005, but has since been revised. It has been agreed to by the CSA (Canadian Securities Administrators), and covers additional SarbOx issues.

The date proposed for the Bill 198 to come into effect is for fiscal years beginning on or after June 30, 2006.

[edit] See also

Sarbanes-Oxley Act – the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002, commonly called SOX or Sarbox.
Corporate Law Economic Reform Program Act 2004 – the Australian equivalent of Sarbanes-Oxley, commonly called CLERP-9.
J-SOX – The Japanese equivalent of Sarbanes-Oxley