The Alberta government is reviewing existing rules governing public auctions and auctioneers. Input from the public is welcome as part of the review.
“We already have good auction regulations in place, but we want to make sure they’re as good as they can be,” said Service Alberta Minister Heather Klimchuk. “We want to hear from Albertans, particularly those who participate in auctions, on their ideas and suggestions for any improvements.”
The Public Auctions Regulation under the Fair Trading Act has been in place since 1999 and was last reviewed in 2005. Currently, the regulation requires an auction business to be licensed, post a security, and deposit funds from auction sales into a trust account. As well, auctioneers must meet certain training requirements.
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Issues up for discussion include: whether individual auctioneers should be licensed along with auction businesses, if training requirements for auctioneers should expand, bidding practices, and other issues.
An online discussion paper is available at www.servicealberta.ca.
The deadline for providing input is October 8. The government will also be gathering input from stakeholders as part of the consultation.
There are currently 213 licensed auction businesses in Alberta. w
