The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) has announced that new provisions in Quebec’s Securities Act mean that enforcement sanctions imposed in other Canadian jurisdictions will automatically apply in Quebec as well.

These amendments are being adopted to “increase the timeliness and efficiency” of the existing regime when it comes to compliance decisions and agreements, the AMF says in a release announcing the development.

“Under the amended regime, any decision issued by or agreement made with a securities regulator in Canada imposing sanctions, conditions, restrictions or requirements on an individual or a firm will take effect automatically in Quebec,” as if these sanctions had been imposed by the AMF or the Bureau de décision et de révision, the release states.

Alberta introduced similar amendments to its securities laws last year that provide for automatic reciprocity of enforcement decisions handed down in other jurisdictions.

“These new measures are intended primarily to prevent individuals or firms who have had restrictions imposed on them on account of offences in another province or territory of Canada from being able to commit an offence in Quebec,” says Louis Morisset, president and CEO of the AMF, in a statement. “This initiative complements the efforts of the Canadian Securities Administrators to enhance means of protecting investors and consumers of financial products and services and ensure market efficiency.”

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