Compliance and Risk

In order to achieve our vision of a marketplace that is fair to both consumers and businesses, Consumer Protection BC's primary goal is to ensure that businesses comply with consumer protection laws.

This can only be achieved with an effective link between our consumer protection mandate set by the government and our regulatory activities. This will ensure that Consumer Protection BC:

• identifies the main risks to our objectives as they arise;
• measures the importance of those risks;
• lessens those risks where their size justifies this; and
• monitors and reports on the progress of our risk management.

Given the many possible events that could have a negative effect on the BC marketplace and our limited resources, we accept that we can never entirely eliminate risks to our consumer protection mandate set by the government. Although the idea that regulation should eliminate all failures may look appealing, in practice this would impose prohibitive costs on the industry and consumers.

Consumers benefit from healthy, competitive markets where different businesses try to meet their needs.

Consumer Protection BC regularly reviews the amount of risk we are prepared to accept as a regulator and focus our resources - especially those related to compliance inspections - on the risks that matter the most. By doing so, we believe we can make the greatest overall difference in the BC consumer market without stifling competitiveness.

And from the point of view of those we regulate, our interventions in the marketplace can be justified in terms of the level of risk to our mandate and consequent harm that would otherwise be present.

Purpose of Inspection

Compliance inspectors enforce the statutes for which Consumer Protection BC is responsible. The inspectors are responsible for verifying businesses’ compliance with the Acts and various Regulations, as well as making businesses and individuals aware of and helping them voluntarily comply with the law.

Powers of Inspectors

The Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act and the Motion Picture Act give the compliance inspectors their authority. Compliance inspectors are permitted to enter business premises at any reasonable time, ask questions, review documents and make copies of, or even retain, materials of interest. The inspectors are also permitted to take pictures if necessary to record the physical layout and/or location of a business’ premises.

The Inspection Process

In most cases, compliance inspectors will not provide advance notice of inspections. They will not intrude where consumers are attending the business and where there is limited staff to assist. Compliance inspectors may provide advance notice of inspections if detailed trust or account records are required to be produced.

When conducting inspections, compliance inspectors will seek out the manager or person in charge of the location and will make every attempt to not interfere with normal business operations. If a person of authority is not available, the inspector may still conduct a limited inspection and make arrangements to come back at a later time to review records and other documentation which may only be available from accounting or other management employees.

Once the inspection process is complete, the inspector will review the results with the licensee and discuss any deficiencies noted. The compliance inspector will have the authorized personnel for the licensee sign the inspection report(s) will be signed by and give a copy of the report(s) to the licensee. The inspector will also discuss any follow-up or corrective action required by the licensee at this time.

The compliance inspector will give the licensee a reasonable amount of time to resolve the deficiencies based on their severity. The inspector will continue to work with the licensee during this period to ensure compliance.

Following the inspection, the compliance inspector will document the details, update the Consumer Protection BC information system and inform the Licensing section of any updates that arose from the process. If the licensee fails to resolve any issues of non-compliance, the compliance inspector will recommend administrative monetary penalties, licensing action or referral to the enforcement team for further investigation and possible enforcement action.

Inspection Types

The compliance inspector may initiate any of the following types of inspections:

• Routine: This inspection ensures that a licensee is operating in compliance with the BPCP Act and the related Regulations. An inspection can last up to several hours, depending on the number of questions that are asked.
• Follow-Up: This inspection occurs in response to a deficient routine inspection to ensure that the necessary action(s) was/were taken to correct the deficiencies noted during the routine inspection. A follow-up inspection generally occurs within 8 weeks from the date of the routine inspection and is determined on a case-by-case basis. An inspection can last up to 3 hours, depending on the number of questions that are asked.
• Complaint-Based: This inspection occurs in order to review, discuss and inspect a specific issue or allegation. Depending on the complaint, an appointment may be required. A compliant-based inspection generally occurs within a reasonable time following the receipt of the complaint depending on the nature and seriousness of the allegation. A compliant-based inspection has no fixed length of time, as it occurs on a case-by-case basis.