Welcome to the first edition of the NB PPR News - the newsletter designed to inform you about the significant changes planned for the Personal Property Registry (PPR) for the Province of New Brunswick. This publication is issued to communicate information and events leading to the implementation of the modified computerized registry system to support the NB Personal Property Security Act.

Agreement Signed

On January 18, 1999, the President of Service New Brunswick signed an agreement with Unisys Canada Inc. to implement a new computerized Personal Property Registry system. The new system is a modification of the one now in place in New Brunswick. It has already been implemented in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The service is delivered through Atlantic Canada On-Line* (ACOL).

Personal Property Security Act

The Personal Property Security Act (PPSA) identifies the personal property registry as an electronic registry where notices of security interests in certain collateral should be registered to retain priority. A Secured Party or their representative must enter the information into the system in a timely and accurate manner. Government staff are not permitted to enter, search, or amend information on behalf of the clients of the electronic personal property registry system.

What is needed to connect to the new computerized system?

The exact details of this question will be answered over the next few months. Remote connection to the PPR service can be made available on-line from your home or business. New ACOL clients are required to complete an application with ACOL. Once received and authorized, you or your company will be assigned a client account with user-IDs for each of those employees who you have identified within your company as requiring access.

Each personal computer used to access ACOL requires an official copy of the ACOL Desktop software installed. This software is available in Windows 3.1x or Windows 95/98 versions. Each user-ID allows access to the registry from any computer that has the ACOL Desktop software installed. Existing ACOL clients are required to complete an addendum to their agreement extending access privileges to the NB PPR. There is a Software License fee of $200 plus applicable taxes for each copy of the software required. The only other fees are those regulatory fees outlined in the General Regulation that accompany the legislation.

What is ACOL?

ACOL is an on-line information service that provides access to government information throughout Atlantic Canada. This service is offered by Unisys Canada Inc. through a public/private partnership with the governments of New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. It is based on a multi-year contract which was signed by the four premiers on May 10, 1996. The first information service of ACOL is the Nova Scotia PPR system. ACOL is progressively providing for a single point of access for registrations and searches to the four Atlantic Personal Property Registries as each province brings their PPR system on-line. Provision of additional services beyond PPR is in progress.

Orientation Seminars

The project team will be holding eight half-day orientation seminars (five English sessions, three French sessions). These sessions will provide a brief overview of ACOL, the PPR, and an on-line demonstration of the new system. The intended audience includes management, lawyers, administrators and practitioners who are involved with the existing personal property registry. We will forward information to all clients regarding scheduling of the orientation sessions as soon as that material becomes available.

Live Date Announcement

We expect to announce a live date in February. However, for your planning purposes, we are targeting a late April implementation. We will be in touch regularly over the next several months, and will be using this newsletter along with presentations and training sessions to keep you updated. In the meantime, if you have any questions, concerns, or are simply interested in what we’re doing, please feel free to contact us. The starting point for queries should be with the Provincial Deputy Registrar, Phyllis Raymond, who can be reached as follows:

* ACOL and Atlantic Canada On-Line are registered official marks of the Provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.