Model Pension Law

In January 2004, CAPSA released the consultation paper entitled Proposed Regulatory Principles for a Model Pension Law. CAPSA received feedback from face-to-face consultation sessions across Canada, as well as from written stakeholder submissions. Based on feedback from the consultations, the proposed model law principles were divided into three categories: non-contentious principles, principles requiring further development and contentious principles.

In September 2006, CAPSA decided to cease further work on the principles categorized as being contentious. However, CAPSA worked closely with key pension stakeholders in developing the non-contentious principles and the principles identified as requiring further development. On October 31, 2008, CAPSA released the final report on its work on Regulatory Principles for a Model Pension Law (the “model law principles”) for the information of pension stakeholders.

The principles contained in the report seek to balance the protection of pension plan members’ rights and benefits with the need to simplify the regulatory requirements for pension plans in Canada. The model law principles that CAPSA was able to develop represent, in CAPSA’s view, current “best practices”.