Banks providing consumer credit products in Quebec are taking steps to ask the Quebec Superior Court to clarify that certain provisions in Quebec’s consumer protection legislation do not apply to banks because banking is federally regulated.

In a statement released Thursday, the Canadian Bankers Association said it has turned to the court for a decision following the filing of five class action proceedings against the banks that involve certain provisions in the Quebec Consumer Protection Act.

The banks believe that these provisions go beyond the jurisdictional authority of the Quebec government when applied to banks and the business of banking.

The CBA has undertaken similar clarifications recently in Alberta and British Columbia in the context of the banks’ creditor insurance activities.

In 2001, the CBA asked Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench to clarify that Alberta’s new insurance legislation did not apply to the banking industry.

http://www.newswire.ca/releases/September2003/11/c9858.html