• GOVERNMENT RELATIONS

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• CJA Covid-19 information 

  The CJA is recognized as the voice of our industry by all levels of government. Our voice is unbiased and impartial.

  The CJA’s voice with government focuses on the following:

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• The CJA assists members in understanding Canadian laws and regulations that govern their business.
• The CJA upholds compliance to the Competition Act, the Precious Metals Marking Act/Regulations and the Weights and Measures Act.
• The CJA liaises with the following Federal Government agencies such as the Competition Bureau, Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED, formerly Industry Canada), Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN), Department of Finance, FINTRAC, Measurement Canada and the RCMP on issues that affect our industry.
• The CJA represents “Dealers in Precious Metals and Stones” (DPMS) on the Department of Finance’s Advisory Committee on Anti-Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing.
• The CJA with our partner Outlier Canada provides AML/ATF compliance expertise to assist industry in attaining AML/ATF compliance under Canadian law. (Access to AML tool-see membership)

Current Government Consultations

Precious Metals Marking Regulations

Updated April 2020

In September 2019, the CJA submitted a response to the Treasury Board Secretariat’s (TBS) consultation on modernizing regulations. The Precious Metals Marking Regulations (PMMR) was the topic of the response. The PMMR has not been reviewed by Government in over 50 years.

Beneficial Ownership Registry

Updated April 2020

The Canadian government launched a consultation for a public Beneficial Ownership Registry to increase the transparency of businesses especially in the anti-money laundering context. Such a registry would aid Reporting Entities, which includes jewellers known as Dealers in Precious Metals and Stones (DPMS), to access due diligence when having to identify business owners in a reportable transaction.

The CJA made a submission to government with the following concerns:

·       Jewellers are vulnerable to certain kinds of crimes (i.e. home invasions, hostage situations) so having home addresses available publicly is a risk.

·        Liability of the integrity, verification and validation of the information on the registry be held by the Canadian Government.

·        Need for a harmonized approach across all provinces and the Federal Government.

In the submission the CJA requested:

·       An exemption by the registrar for at risk businesses, like jewellers

·       A tiered access with very limited public access