The Securities Commission has granted an exemption to Emera Incorporated and Nova Scotia Power Incorporated (the Filers) from the requirement to prepare financial statements in accordance with Canadian GAAP applicable to publicly accountable enterprises. Instead, the Filers are permitted to use U.S. GAAP for their financial statements. This decision is based on the fact that the Filers are involved in rate-regulated activities and are not SEC issuers, although if they were, they would be allowed to file financial statements in U.S. GAAP under section 3.7 of NI 52-107.
The exemption is an extension of similar relief previously granted in 2018, which was set to expire no later than January 1, 2024. The extension is due to the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) ongoing development of a new standard for entities with rate-regulated activities, which has not yet been finalized.
The exemption will remain in effect until the earliest of: January 1, 2027; the date the Filers no longer have rate-regulated activities; or two years after the IASB publishes a final Mandatory Rate-regulated Standard, provided this date is after the IASB’s prescribed effective date for such a standard.
This decision is made under the authority of section 5.1 of National Instrument 52-107 Acceptable Accounting Principles and Auditing Standards and is consistent with the securities legislation of Nova Scotia and Ontario, as well as the Multilateral Instrument 11-102 Passport System and National Policy 11-203 Process for Exemptive Relief Applications in Multiple Jurisdictions.