"Canadian retailers within rights to refuse $50 bills
MONTREAL - The signs are everywhere: in store windows or next to cash registers: "We don't accept $50 bills."
While the denomination may be $50 or $100, the message is the same - the merchants are refusing legal tender.
But whether it’s over concerns of counterfeit money, being robbed or simply lacking change, the practice isn’t against the law.
Christian Vezeau, senior analyst at the Bank of Canada, confirmed it’s within the rights of businesses to refuse paper money under certain circumstances.
“They have no obligation to accept any specific denomination,” he said from Ottawa. “It’s a private agreement between two parties.”
A federal Department of Finance official referred to the Currency Act, which stipulates only Canadian circulation coins and notes are legal tender in Canada.
“But it is important to note that legal tender has a narrow meaning,” the spokesperson said. “It means only that a payment cannot be refused in settlement of a debt. Therefore, there is no obligation for a legal tender to be accepted as payment in a business, commercial or personal transaction unless there is debt involved.”
Vezeau said the Bank of Canada “strongly discourages” businesses posting the signs over their concerns about bogus bills, usually for $50s and $100s.
He explained such signs entice counterfeiters to pass off different denominations than those being watched for.
“Seventy-five per cent of counterfeit bills are now $20s and $10s,” Vezeau pointed out.
According to the RCMP’s latest currency counterfeiting statistics, $20s and $10s accounted for 66 and 10 per cent of bogus bills respectively in 2007 while $50s and $100s made up only seven and five per cent respectively.
The Bank of Canada offers retailers free seminars and employee training on detecting bogus bills.
Judy Langford, a media co-ordinator for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said fraud protection notices from the Bank of Canada concerning counterfeit money are passed along to the 105,000 members.
It isn’t their main worry, however.
“A lot of convenience stores don’t keep more than $50 (in their tills) for fear of robbery and advertise it in the front window,” Langford said.
As for coins, people who want to pay for their purchases with pennies can be limited to 25 cents at the discretion of the merchant under the Currency Act.
Spokespeople for the nearly 1,000-member Association des marchands, depanneurs et epiceries du Quebec and 40,000-strong Retail Council of Canada couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday."
