Drop the Penny Act, 1995
EXPLANATORY NOTE
The purpose of the Bill is to create a new business practice respecting cash transactions by requiring cash amounts for goods and services to be rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of five cents.
Persons owed money are required to round the total amount owing in each cash transaction, including all taxes, to the nearest multiple of five cents. Transactions with financial institutions are exempted from the requirement. Also, persons who notify the public by posting a sign, or otherwise, that they do not round cash amounts are exempted from the requirement.
A person charged a rounded amount is required to pay that amount. However, a person may request at the beginning of the cash transaction that the total not be rounded.
Bill1995
An Act respecting the rounding of
the Penny in Cash Transactions
Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:
Definitions
1. In this Act,
"cash amount" means the amount of money owed for any good or service, after the calculation and inclusion of any tax that may be applicable to the good or service; ("montant en espèces")
"good" includes real property and securities. ("produit")
Application to cash transactions
2. This Act applies to all cash transactions except transactions with,
(a) a loan corporation or a trust corporation as defined in the Loan and Trust Corporations Act;
(b) a credit union as defined in the Credit Unions and Caisses Populaires Act, 1994;
(c) a bank as defined in the Bank Act (Canada);
(d) an insurer as defined in the Insurance Act; and
(e) any other institution designated in the regulations made under this Act.
Rounding
3. (1) Every person to whom a cash amount is owed for a good or service shall, as a business practice, round the cash amount up or down to the nearest multiple of five cents, and shall charge that rounded amount at the time that the amount is due.
Exception
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if the person to whom it would otherwise apply notifies the public by posting a sign that meets the requirements prescribed by the regulations or otherwise notifies the public that the person does not round cash amounts.
Rounded portion
4. The money added to or subtracted from a cash amount as a result of rounding shall not for any purposes be considered to be part of the cost or value of the good or service.
Payer's obligation
5. (1) Every person charged a rounded amount for a good or service shall pay the rounded amount.
Exception
(2) Despite subsection (1), a person who does not want to pay a rounded amount shall indicate that fact at the beginning of the cash transaction.
Payee's obligation
(3) A person to whom a cash amount is owed shall complete a cash transaction without rounding if the other party to the transaction states at the beginning of the transaction that the person does not want to pay a rounded amount.
Offence
6. Every person who contravenes subsection 3 (2) or 5 (3) is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine of not less than $25.
Regulations
7. (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations,
(a) defining "cash transaction" and setting out the events that constitute the beginning of a cash transaction;
(b) exempting a person or any class of person from any provision of this Act or the regulations;
(c) exempting any good or service from any provision of this Act or the regulations;
(d) designating an institution for the purposes of section 2;
(e) governing books and records that shall be kept by persons who engage in the practice of rounding;
(f) prescribing the type, design, colour, size and print of signs for the purposes of section 3 and providing for their location;
(g) prescribing other methods of advising the public for the purposes of section 3, and governing the situations in which those methods shall be used.
Scope of regulations
(2) Any regulation made under subsection (1) may be general or particular in its application.
Commencement
8. This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
Short title
9. The short title of this Act is the Drop the Penny Act, 1995.