Extra-Provincial/Territorial Corporate Registration and Reporting Reconciliation Agreement (2019)

Governments have committed to reconcile the differences in corporate registration and reporting requirements between jurisdictions in order to alleviate the burden placed on businesses seeking to expand their operations across the country. The Extra-Provincial/Territorial Corporate Registration and Reporting Reconciliation Agreement outlines their commitment to develop and implement the Multi-jurisdictional Registry Access Service (the “MRAS”), a scalable and adaptable digital solution that enables information to be shared among jurisdictions through a central hub. With the MRAS, a business registering in a province or territory will not have to duplicate certain information required by each province or territory in which a business is registering its operations and, ultimately, this will make extra-provincial registration and reporting more seamless and efficient for business.

Specifically, the adoption of the MRAS will:

• streamline extra-provincial/territorial corporate registration and reporting processes and automate notifications of business information changes among registries;
• increase transparency and reduce red-tape experienced by businesses and registries across Canada; and
• support the consistency of information among participating jurisdictions through shared service delivery principles.

Through a search function, MRAS also increases access to core business information to enable suppliers, buyers, creditors, consumers and other members of the public and private sector to verify and identify businesses in Canada.

As the MRAS is rolled out in each jurisdiction over the next number of years, businesses in those jurisdictions will be able to more easily register in multiple provinces or territories because the duplicative registration and reporting processes that previously existed will have been substantially eliminated. The MRAS will also ensure up-to-date information on businesses, as it will allow the registries to report changes directly to each other.

In 2020, Canada, Québec, Manitoba, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Alberta will have implemented both functions of the MRAS. Currently, the search function captures information on more than 90 per cent of Canadian corporations operating in Canada. The search function is found at: (https://beta.canadasbusinessregistries.ca/search).

Once participating jurisdictions have signed the agreement, the full text of the agreement will be published on the CFTA website.