Companion Policy to National Instrument 52-109 Certification of Disclosure in Issuers' Annual and Interim Filings

Part 12 Role of Board of Directors and Audit Committee

Form 52-109F1 requires the certifying officers to represent that the issuer has disclosed in its annual MD&A certain information about the certifying officers’ evaluation of the effectiveness of DC&P. Form 52-109F1 also requires the certifying officers to represent that the issuer has disclosed in its annual MD&A certain information about the certifying officers’ evaluation of the effectiveness of ICFR. Under National Instrument 51-102 Continuous Disclosure Obligations (NI 51-102), the board of directors must approve the issuer’s annual MD&A, including the required disclosure concerning DC&P and ICFR, before it is filed. To provide reasonable support for the board of directors’ approval of an issuer’s MD&A disclosure concerning ICFR, including any material weaknesses, the board of directors should understand the basis upon which the certifying officers concluded that any particular deficiency or combination of deficiencies did or did not constitute a material weakness (see section 9.2 of the Policy).

NI 52-110 requires the audit committee to review an issuer’s financial disclosure and to establish procedures for dealing with complaints and concerns about accounting or auditing matters. Issuers subject to NI 52-110 should consider its specific requirements in designing and evaluating their DC&P and ICFR.