FST Hearing - Cooper-Standard Automotive Canada Ltd.

On June 13, 2007, Cooper-Standard Automotive Canada Ltd. (the “Applicant”), requested a hearing regarding the Notice of Proposal of the Deputy Superintendent, Pensions, dated May 15, 2007, to refuse to register an amendment dated December 21, 2006 (the "Amendment") to the Pension Plan for Salaried Employees of Cooper-Standard Automotive Canada Limited, Registration Number 0250548 (the “Plan”), pursuant to section 18(1)(d) of the Pension Benefits Act (the "Act"). 

In circumstances where a member of the Plan may elect to have the commuted value of his or her deferred pension paid into another retirement savings vehicle and that value exceeds the maximum transfer amount specified by the Income Tax Act (Canada), the Amendment would allow the member to have the administrator pay only a portion of that commuted value out of the Plan, i.e. the amount remaining at some future time after the member receives pension payments for a period. The Superintendent maintains that this is in violation of the Act because the entire commuted value of a deferred pension, as at the time of any such election, must be paid out of a pension plan, under section 42(1) of the Act, and if that value exceeds the limits set out in the Income Tax Act (Canada), that excess must be paid in a lump sum to the member.   

A pre-hearing conference is being scheduled.

Updated to June 14, 2007

The pre-hearing conference is scheduled for September 11, 2007.