BILL NO. 52

(as introduced)

2nd Session, 62nd General Assembly
Nova Scotia
63 Elizabeth II, 2014

Government Bill

Consumer Protection Act (amended)
and
Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act (amended)

The Honourable Mark Furey
Minister of Service Nova Scotia

First Reading: October 23, 2014

(Explanatory Notes)

Second Reading: October 24, 2014

Third Reading: November 6, 2014 (LINK TO BILL AS PASSED)

Clause 2 requires cellular contract service suppliers to give educational materials to customers under the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act.

Clause 3 adds regulation-making powers to further define "cellular telephone services" and to prescribe the form, content and provision of educational materials by suppliers.

Clause 4 sets out the effective date of the Act.

Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:

1 Sections 25K to 25AO of Chapter 92 of the Revised Statutes, 1989, the Consumer Protection Act, are repealed.

2 Chapter 6 of the Acts of 2006, the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act, is amended by adding immediately before Section 63 the following Sections:

62A (1) In this Section,

(a) "cellular telephone services" means, subject to the regulations, wireless communication services or functions that are accessed from a cellular telephone, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, receiving or transmitting telephone calls, electronic data, electronic mail or text messages;

(b) "educational materials" means the materials about responsible cellular telephone use and cyberbullying prepared by the Minister of Justice.

(2) A supplier of cellular telephone services shall obtain copies of the educational materials from the Director.

(3) A supplier shall give a copy of the educational materials to each customer who enters into a contract with the supplier for cellular telephone services, at no additional cost to the customer, immediately after the contract is made.

(4) For greater certainty, the educational materials given to a customer under subsection (3) must be those prepared by the Minister of Justice.

3 Subsection 67(1) of Chapter 6, as amended by Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2013, is further amended by adding immediately after clause (i) the following clauses:

(ia) extending, modifying or limiting the meaning of "cellular telephone services" for the purpose of Section 62A or the regulations;

(ib) respecting the requirement under Section 62A for suppliers to provide educational materials about responsible cellular telephone use, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing,

(i) specifying information that must be included in the education materials,

(ii) respecting the form and content of the educational materials that must be provided, which may include, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, requiring specific educational materials to be provided, and

(iii) respecting the manner of providing the educational materials;