The University of Alberta Faculty of Law hosted the annual meeting of the Canadian Conference on Personal Property Security Law (CCPPSL) on June 20-23, 2017. The CCPPSL was established in 1991, with its first meeting held in Edmonton.
The meeting brought together officials from both the registration and policy branches of governments, as well as commercial law academics and experts on registration systems. Experts from almost every Canadian jurisdiction participated in the discussions.
The objectives of the CCPPSL are to encourage and facilitative harmonization of provincial, territorial and federal personal property security law, while providing a forum for discussion on new developments in personal property security law. In addition, the CCPPSL provides a mechanism through which standardization of the personal property registry requirements can be pursued.
A major topic on the agenda was the ratification of the CCPPSL Working Group's Report on Proposals for Changes to the Personal Property Security Acts. The 166-page report made numerous recommendations for the reform of secured transactions law designed to achieve greater uniformity, greater clarity and greater efficiency in the law.
This CCPPSL meeting marked the first ever hosted by a university rather than by a provincial or territorial government. UAlberta Law was pleased to support the work of the CCPPSL in fostering a shared understanding of current legal and technical issues and in promoting law reform efforts that will improve the law.
In addition to co-chairing the meeting, UAlberta Law Professors Rod Wood and Tamara Buckwold also presented portions of the Working Group Report. Wood also reviewed recent PPSA case law, while both Wood and Buckwold spoke on the future direction of the CCPPSL. Wood, a founding member of the CCPPSL, observed that "most provinces and territories have adopted personal property security legislation based on the CCPPSL model," and that "other countries, such as New Zealand, have also adopted legislation based on this design."
UAlberta Law is hopeful that the CCPPSL's valuable work will lead to the implementation of further significant reforms in the field of personal property security law.