Rules & documentation

By-laws, rules, standards and procedure documents are integral parts of the legal framework of the national payment systems that Payments Canada is legislated to establish and operate. They lay out the roles, responsibilities and obligations of our member financial institutions on the appropriate handling of payment items exchanged, cleared and settled via our payment systems. This includes requirements for participation in a payment system or scheme, procedures for the processing of payment items, and the requirements and timeframes for returning payment items, where eligible.

Payments Canada’s rules, standards and procedure documents are updated regularly and versions posted online are in force. You can contact Payments Canada for confirmation by e-mail at info@payments.ca.

Item Title Updated System
Rule F4
Rules applicable to Automated Funds Transfer (AFT) Transactions using ISO 20022 messages
Retail batch payment system
Rule K1
Bulk Exchange and Settlement of U.S. Dollar Items​
Retail batch payment system
Rule K5
U.S. Bulk Exchange System - Manual Balancing and Settlement
Retail batch payment system
Rule K8
U.S. Dollar Automated Funds Transfer System
Retail batch payment system
Rule B9
Manual Balancing and Settlement
Retail batch payment system
Rule F1
Rules applicable to Automated Funds Transfer (AFT) Transactions
Retail batch payment system
Standard 007
Standards for the use of transaction codes and return reason codes in AFT files
Retail batch payment system
Rule E3
Rules Applicable to Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Transactions
Retail batch payment system
Rule G3
Rules Pertaining to the Redemption and Settlement of Government of Canada Paper Instruments
Retail batch payment system
Rule C1
Cross-border Arrangements
Retail batch payment system
Introduction
Introduction
Retail batch payment system
Rule E1
Shared Electronic Point-of-Service Payment Items
Retail batch payment system