Vol. 140, No. 39 — September 30, 2006

Regulations Amending the Frontier Lands Registration Regulations

Statutory authority

Canada Petroleum Resources Act

Sponsoring departments

Department of Natural Resources and Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)

Description

In 1988, the Frontier Lands Registration Regulations were promulgated pursuant to the Canada Petroleum Resources Act (the Act). Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) administer the Act. The Act requires that a public registry system be established and maintained. The objective of the registry system is to provide a mechanism for the registration of what the Act defines as "interests" in lands and any "instruments" which affect the registered interests. The system is used to register oil and gas rights when issued by the Minister of Natural Resources or the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and any changes to this information, such as a transfer of ownership from one company to another. The INAC Northern Oil and Gas Directorate operates the registry.

The Act also provides for the establishment of user fees for the use of the registry to offset costs of providing the service. Interest owners pay for the use of the registry as do members of the public who may also access information contained in the registry system. The proposed amendments will have no effect on user fees.

The proposed amendments are being made in response to questions raised by the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations (SJC), with regard to second language correspondence and drafting issues.

Examples of these amendments are as follows:

• To correct a legal drafting issue in subsection 5(2), the text "The abstract referred to in paragraph (1)(b) shall contain the following information" is replaced with "The abstract shall contain the following information"; and
• In order that the French version matches the English version, replace the word "office" with "ministre" in subsection 4(2) of the French version, which currently reads "Lorsqu'il n'y a pas de directeur désigné par l'office, le directeur adjoint exerce les attributions du directeur."

Alternatives

Since these amendments are being made in response to questions raised by the SJC and are related to legal drafting and second language correspondence issues, there is no alternative to amending these Regulations.

Benefits and costs

The Frontier Lands Registration Regulations have been in place since 1988. The oil and gas industry is familiar with the registry and has used it extensively since then. These amendments will have no impact on operational costs nor on the efficiency of the registry system.

Consultation

NRCan and INAC have developed the proposed amendments in consultation with the following parties:

• the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, which represents the oil and gas industry end-user group of the registry;
• the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, which operates a parallel registry system in the Newfoundland and Labrador offshore area; and
• the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Natural Resources.

Compliance and enforcement

The INAC Northern Oil and Gas Directorate is responsible for operating the registry and ensuring industry compliance with the Regulations. Registration of interests is a long-standing industry practice, with a strong track record of industry compliance. The proposed amendments will have no impact on compliance and enforcement.

Contact

Mr. Michael Hnetka, Advisor, Regulations, Frontier Lands Management Division, Department of Natural Resources, 580 Booth Street, 17th Floor, B2, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E4, 613-992-2916 (telephone), 613-943-2274 (fax), mhnetka@NRCan.gc.ca (email).

PROPOSED REGULATORY TEXT

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to subsection 107(2) of the Canada Petroleum Resources Act (see footnote a), that the Governor in Council, pursuant to section 4 (see footnote b) and subsection 9(1), the definition "court" in subsection 84(1), subsection 87(2), section 100 and subsection 107(1) of that Act, proposes to make the annexed Regulations Amending the Frontier Lands Registration Regulations.

Interested persons may make representations with respect to the proposed Regulations to the Minister of Natural Resources and the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. All such representations must cite the Canada Gazette, Part I, and the date of publication of this notice, and be addressed to Mr. Philip Jennings, Director General, Natural Resources Canada, 17th Floor, Room A7-1, 580 Booth St., Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E4.

Ottawa, September 21, 2006

MARY O'NEILL
Assistant Clerk of the Privy Council

REGULATIONS AMENDING THE FRONTIER LANDS REGISTRATION REGULATIONS

AMENDMENTS

1. Subsection 4(2) of the French version of the Frontier Lands Registration Regulations (see footnote 1) is replaced by the following:

(2) Lorsqu'il n'y a pas de directeur nommé par le ministre, le directeur adjoint exerce les attributions du directeur.

2. (1) Subsection 5(1) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

5. (1) On registering an interest, the Registrar shall prepare an abstract of the interest and without delay enter the abstract in a book to be maintained as the register.

(2) The portion of subsection 5(2) of the Regulations before paragraph ( a ) is replaced by the following:

(2) The abstract shall contain the following information:

(3) Paragraph 5(2)( b ) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(b) the name of the interest owner or, if the interest owner consists of two or more interest holders, the name of each holder and the name of their representative;

(4) Paragraph 5(2)( d ) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(d) a description of those portions of the frontier lands, geological formations and substances to which the interest applies.

(5) Subsection 5(3) of the Regulations is repealed.

(6) Paragraph 5(5)( a ) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(a) changes to the information recorded in the abstract, other than the corrections referred to in subsection 9(2);

(7) Paragraph 5(5)( e ) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(e) the extension of the term of that interest under any provision of the Act.

3. The heading before section 6 of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

Documents

4. Subsection 6(5) of the French version of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(5) Lorsque l'enregistrement d'un acte est radié aux termes de la Loi ou du présent règlement, le directeur le signale dans chaque résumé où est mentionné l'enregistrement de cet acte.

5. Subsection 7(1) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

7. (1) The office of the Registrar shall be located in Gatineau, Quebec and shall be kept open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday to Friday, with the exception of statutory holidays.

6. Subsection 9(1) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

9. (1) The Registrar shall cancel the registration of any interest registered in error and shall notify as soon as feasible after the cancellation the interest owner and their representative, or any other affected party, of the cancellation.

7. Section 11 of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

11. For the purposes of Part VIII of the Act, the Federal Court, the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta and the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario have concurrent original jurisdiction in respect of all frontier lands.

8. Section 12 of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

12. Unless otherwise specified in the Act, if a notice is required to be given under the Act, it shall be given by personal service or by sending it by registered mail at the latest known address on file with the Registrar or by telex or telecopy.

9. The Regulations are amended by adding the following after section 13:

13.1 If an interest is surrendered, the Registrar shall endorse a memorandum to that effect on the original copy of that interest maintained under paragraph 7(2)(a) and shall make a notation of the surrender in the abstract of that interest.

10. (1) Subsection 14(1) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

14. (1) Interest holders shall appoint a representative referred to in subsection 9(1) of the Act by sending to the Registrar a notice of appointment executed by each interest holder.

(2) Subsection 14(3) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(3) If the interest holders terminate the appointment of a representative referred to in subsection 9(1) of the Act, the interest holders shall without delay notify the Registrar of the termination and the termination shall be effective when the Registrar receives the notification.

COMING INTO FORCE

11. These Regulations come into force on the day on which they are registered.

[39-1-o]

Footnote a

R.S., c. 36 (2nd Supp.)

Footnote b

S.C. 1992, c. 1, ss. 144(1) (Sch. VII, s. 8)

Footnote 1

SOR/88-230

NOTICE:
The format of the electronic version of this issue of the Canada Gazette was modified in order to be compatible with extensible hypertext markup language (XHTML 1.0 Strict).