BC OnLine Newsletter

In This Issue:

How to Use the BC OnLine Folio Field - page 1

What's Happening With Land Title's Electronic Filing System (EFS)? - page 2

What You Need to Use EFS - page 3

Business Corporations Act Coming March 29, 2004 - page 3

Qualified Suppliers for Manufactured Home Registry - page 3

How Property Transfer Tax Will be Paid - Page 4

New At BC OnLine: - Page 4

How to use the BC OnLine Folio Field

The BC OnLine Folio field is in the upper left corner of every BC OnLine screen. This field allows you to organize your BC OnLine statement and calculate your disbursements accurately.

In addition, the Land Title Office will include the content of the Folio field on all EFS notices. If you plan on using EFS, then you will want to use the Folio field.

Your own customer reference number can be typed in the Folio field. Every search or registration you do in BC OnLine will be tagged with this Folio reference number.

When your BC OnLine statement is generated, the costs are grouped and subtotaled according to the Folio field.

You can type up to 15 characters in the Folio field, and your entries will remain until you log off from BC OnLine.

The Folio field can even be used when you request counter services that are paid for from your BC OnLine deposit account.

Folio: ANDERSON 2315PA12345 SMITH, JULIE 01-28 BPR510 1 7.00- SRVCHRG 1 1.50-PB12345 LEE, CINDY 01-28 CS SRCH 1 7.00- SRVCHRG 1 1.50- --------Fees Performed by Client 2 17.00- -------Subtotal for Folio: ANDERSON 2315 17.00-

Sample BC OnLine Statement

February 2004BC OnLine, 400a 4000 Seymour Place, Victoria, BC V8X 5J8 Phone: (250) 953-8200 or 1-800-663-6102

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www.bconline.gov.bc.ca

What's Happening with Land Title's Electronic Filing Service (EFS)?

The Land Title EFS project is moving along on schedule and is expected to meet it's April 1st, 2004 implementation date.

The project is now in a "Production Pilot" phase with a limited number of customers using the service.

Forms 'A' and 'B' are available for you to view at the Land Title EFS Project web site. You can visit the Land Title Branch project web site at srmwww.gov.bc.ca/landtitle and click on the EFS Project link to learn more.

Courses will be available through the Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Society. More information about EFS training can be obtained by visiting the CLE web site at www.cle.bc.ca.

Software needed is Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Standard used to create the documents for EFS.

It is important to note that this version of Acrobat is not the free version that anyone can download. That version does not allow you to create the Adobe Acrobat documents.

Lawyers and Notaries will also need a digital signature in order to sign the Acrobat files submitted to the Land Title Office.

The Law Society, through JuricertTM, can issue digital certificates to lawyers and notaries.

The process that practitioners will go through to file under EFS is to prepare the documents using Adobe Acrobat templates provided by the Land Title Branch.

In addition to preparing your documents, you will need to set up the electronic funds transfer that will pay the Property Transfer Tax directly from a bank account.

When you log onto BC OnLine and select Land Titles, you have the ability to submit your Land Title documents along with your Property Transfer Tax return.

In conclusion, everyone at BC OnLine and the Land Title Office is confident that EFS will be implemented on schedule and EFS will make the process of filing documents with the Land Title Office easier and simpler.

What do I need to use Land Title EFS?

To make use of Land Title's EFS, you will need the following four items:

1) Internet connection

2) A computer capable of accessing the Internet

3) Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Standard software

4) A JuricertTM digital certificate

The faster your Internet connection, the more responsive EFS will appear to be. We do not recommend you use a dial-up Internet connection for this service.

Testing shows that EFS works best with Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 or higher.

Your computer needs to be capable of accessing the Internet. Details on system requirements are at web site srmwww.gov.bc.ca/landtitle. Some of the main requirements are:

Windows:Intel PentiumWindows 98 or better128mb RAM220mb free disk spaceMicrosoft Internet Explorer 5.01

Macintosh:Power PC G3Mac OS X v.10.2.2128mb RAM370 mb free disk spaceMicrosoft Internet Explorer 5.01

The software needed to use EFS is Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Standard to prepare your documents.

JuricertTM, an initiative of the BC Law Society, can supply authorized practitioners with a digital certificate.

The digital certificate allows you to digitally sign electronic documents. Once a document has been digitally signed, it can be submitted to the Land Title Office.

For more information about digital signatures and JuricertTM, visit the JuricertTM web site at www.juricert.com

www.bconline.gov.bc.ca February 2004

Sample Land Title Form 'A' and Form 'B' Adobe Acrobat templates

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Business Corporations Act Coming March 29, 2004

The Business Corporations Act will be coming into effect March 29 and the Corporate Registry has embarked on a project to convert its operations to a web-based service that will comply with this new act.

This project will allow customers to perform most Business Corporations Act functions from incorporation and filing of directors and annual reports to changing address and alterations of Notice of Articles using BC OnLine.

Details of this project are at www.fin.gov.bc.ca/registries/colin/. This web site has details of the transactions and screen layout for your review.

If you would like to keep current on activity regarding the Business Corporations Act Project, email Sherrilyn Johnson at Sherrilyn.Johnson@gems8.gov.bc.ca and ask to be put on their email distribution list.

Some key dates are:

February 4 - New notices of dissolution will be suspended until further notice. Companies already in the dissolution process will continue to be processed until March 24.

March 15 - Documents received after this date will be processed on a best effort basis. Documents received after this date and not filed by March 29 may have to be resubmitted under the new Act.

March 19 - Priority service for BC and Extraprovincial companies is suspended until April 5, 2004.

March 29 - New Business Corporations Act is in effect. All filings that are available online must be submitted electronically.

Customers are encouraged to frequently visit the Registry web site at www.fin.gov.bc.ca/registries/colin/.

Manufactured Homes Qualified SuppliersIf you are involved in the construction, sale, or transportation of manufactured homes in British Columbia, then you may want to consider becoming a Qualified Supplier for the Manufactured Homes Registry.

Beginning February 23, 2004 transactions in the Manufactured Home Registry that are available online must be completed electronically using BC OnLine. We believe that this requirement makes becoming a Qualified Supplier an important tool for anyone involved with manufactured homes.

BC OnLine customers authorized by the Manufactured Homes Registry to be a Qualified Supplier will have access to transactions normally available only to registry staff.

Details about how to become a Qualified Supplier and the transactions available can be found at the Registries web site www.fin.gov.bc.ca/registries/mhrproject/user-type.htm.

This web site explains that customers such as the builders of manufactured homes, lawyers, notaries, and other service providers are eligible to become Qualified Suppliers.

The web site also has links to the forms necessary to become a Qualified Supplier.

The special Manufactured Home transactions that Qualified Suppliers have access to is also explained at this site. Not all transactions will be available to all Qualified Suppliers.

For example, only home builders will have access to the Initial Registration transaction, but not Residential Exemptions. Other Qualified Suppliers will have access to Residential Exemptions but not Initial Registrations.

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www.bconline.gov.bc.ca February 2004

Corporate Registry Annual Report web filing screen

How EFS Will Process Payment of Property Transfer Tax

You will pay Land Title fees for such filings as Form 'A' transfers out of your BC OnLine deposit account. Due to the large sums involved, the Property Transfer Tax will come directly from a bank account rather than a BC OnLine deposit account.

To be able to pay Property Transfer Tax electronically, you will first need to establish the bank accounts you will be using to pay the taxes. You will do this from the Land Title EFS menu.

One of the forms in EFS is a Property Transfer Tax Electronic Payment Authorization Form. This form lets you set up the bank accounts that you will use for Property Transfer Tax payments. You can set up as many bank accounts as you like.

Once you have established one or more bank accounts, you can then make use of electronic filing for those documents that require Property Transfer Tax payments.

The electronic filing process will be as follows.

1) Using the Land Title Adobe Acrobat templates, complete your Land Title forms and Property Transfer Tax Returns.

2) On the Property Transfer Tax Return, indicate the bank account that will pay the tax.

3) Select 'Submit Documents' from the Land Title menu.

4) Through the 'Submit Documents' function, submit your EFS documents to the Land Title office for processing.

These instructions are very high level and do not go into the full details of the process.

In summary, Land Title filing fees are paid from your BC OnLine Deposit Account and Property Transfer Tax is paid directly from bank accounts you set up through BC OnLine.

www.bconline.gov.bc.ca February 2004

About this publicationThis newsletter is published periodically to inform BC OnLine customers of changes and upcoming events that are of interest to our subscribers.

An electronic version of this newsletter can be found on our web site at www.bconline.gov.bc.ca.BC OnLine is managed by Access BC Information Services Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of MacDonald Dettwiler, and Associates Ltd.

Copyright 2004 AccessBC Information Services Ltd. and its licensors. All rights reserved.

Econveyancetm from Remote Law is the latest addition to the family of services available at BC OnLine.

Econveyancetm is a web based service that allows property transfer practitioners such as lawyers, notaries, and real estate agents to manage the property transfer process.

The econveyancetm software is based on the experience of conveyancing professionals such as lawyers and notaries, as well as the practical experience of their legal support staff.

This experience with conveying property in an electronic environment is available to customers who wish assistance with obtaining a digital certificate, completing the necessary EFS forms, and with setting up and paying Property Transfer Tax Returns.

Remote Law is currently building interfaces to their econveyancetm software to allow it to work seamlessly with the Land Title EFS service.

When EFS goes live later this year, econveyancetm will be there to assist practitioners in this new environment.

For more information about econveyancetm, pricing, digital certificates, and other support services available from Remote Law, see their web site at www.remotelaw.com.

New At BC OnLine:

Remote Law is endorsed by the Law Society's JericertTM program.

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