ACOL is an on-line information service providing Personal Property Registry and other online government services.
ACOL is managed by Unisys Canada Inc. within a public/private partnership with the governments of New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.
ACOL was originally created as "Atlantic Canada On-Line" by the four Atlantic premiers on May 10, 1996. In 2001, Northwest Territories and Nunavut contracted with Unisys in order for ACOL to support their Personal Property Registries. Yukon joined in 2016.
An ACOL client account provides access to supported government services. There are two key aspects to an account:
- Financial: An account tracks funds that you use to pay online government transaction fees, such as fees for registrations and searches. Funds may be deposited to your account by electronic fund transfer, cheque, or credit card. Your Account Statement enables you to monitor all account activity.
- User Access: An account enables one or more users to perform online transactions via the Internet. You can define the access privileges per user, including granting or revoking access as required.
You may want an ACOL client account if you require regular access to the Personal Property Registry for any of the ACOL PPRS provinces and territories.
You may also want an ACOL client account in order to use other ACOL services, such as the Driver Insurance Abstract Service.
The Lien Check Service provides fast, easy access to perform a PPRS Serial Number Search without having an ACOL client acccount. If you use the Lien Check Service regularly, there are a few reasons why you might want to sign up for an account in order to use online PPRS instead:
- Your fee is paid from your ACOL account balance, instead of needing to provide your credit card information with every transaction.
- You will be able to view the list of matches and registration details online before printing your report. This includes the ability to select which registration details to include in the report.
- Your Search Result Report will remain available to you online for up to seven days.
- If you ever need to perform a debtor name search or a registration you will be able to do so.
In order to apply for an account, you will need to provide the following:
- Contact information such as name, address, telephone number, email address, etc.
- Selection of the ACOL PPRS provinces and territories that you want to access.
- A list of initial users and their access privileges. You can add additional users later if needed.
- Selection of your payment preferences. If applicable, this will include information to support electronic funds transfer.
- An authorized person's name and signature, in order to agree to the contract terms and conditions.
- An initial deposit of $100.00 in order to establish the account. There is no charge for the application process. All of the deposited funds will be available to pay fees for transactions that you perform.
In order to use online PPRS you will require the following:
- A computer system with access to the Internet.
- A supported Internet web browser.
- A Portable Document Format (PDF) reader.
See full technical requirements here.
Many people access the Personal Property Registry without having an ACOL client account. These people are typically either infrequent users -- such as someone performing only one or a few registrations or searches -- or they are regular users who have chosen to use one of the following alternatives:
- Lien Check Service -- Anyone with an Internet connection and a valid credit card can use the Lien Check Service to search for serial numbered goods, such as a motor vehicle, trailer, mobile home, boat, plane or outboard motor.
- Value-added Service Provider -- If you do not wish to set up an ACOL account, there are also value-added service providers who are available to perform registrations and searches for you. Value-added service providers may also offer additional assistance in order to help you register or search correctly.
- Government Registry Office -- In Nova Scotia, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, you are able to access PPRS at designated government registry offices. These are services for walk-in customers only -- no mail or electronic requests are accepted. Click on the province or territory link for more information on locations and operating hours.
Most organizations that use PPRS have only one account. Here are some of the options that will help you manage your work:
- Multiple users per account, including with different access privileges.
- Multiple account administrators per account, in order to ensure continuous management of your account.
- Ability to provide an ACOL Reference Number (a value that you define) to help relate your ACOL PPRS charges to your work.
- Account Statements in a format ready to be loaded into a spreadsheet for you to analyze your charges by user, date, function, and ACOL Reference Number.
Nevertheless, you are able to create more than one ACOL client account if necessary. Multiple accounts may be valuable to address the following:
- You have organizational units with separate geographic locations, management structures, or accounting systems.