The Saskatchewan Financial Services Commission reports that the national rule implementing the passport system comes into force today.

The passport system rule implements a system that gives market participants access to the capital markets in multiple jurisdictions by dealing only with its principal regulator and meeting the requirements of one set of harmonized rules.

Related consequential amendments to various existing instruments also come into force today, as do new national policies dealing with the process for prospectus reviews and exemptive relief applications in multiple jurisdictions.

Critics of the passport system claim that it doesn’t do enough to improve the existing system, and that Canada would be better off with a national regulator.