The Canadian Payments Association (CPA) is mandating an industry-wide transition to the use of images of cheques in the Canadian clearing system to replace the existing physical cheques.

In the future image-based environment, it will be essential that all cheques follow a standard format to ensure that high-quality images can be captured consistently. For this reason, the CPA amended their cheque “Standard 006” with the new specifications that were published in January 2005.

To help their business customers make a smooth transition, financial institutions are extending the grace period to accept "old format" cheques until September 2, 2008. This extended transition or "grace period" will allow businesses that are still working on the changes to use up their existing supply of cheques and to make any required modifications to software.

All cheques ordered through TD Canada Trust (or directly from Davis & Henderson) after March 31, 2005 are in compliance with the revised standards.

However, if you print your own cheques or have them printed by another supplier, here are some of the key changes published by the Canadian Payments Association that will affect your cheques. For complete details click here www.cdnpay.ca

1. Adoption of a numeric date field in one of the following specified formats (English format of MMDDYYYY or DDMMYYYY or French JJMMAAAA or MMJJAAAA or International date format YYYYMMDD are acceptable). In all cases, the date field indicators must be printed below the date field line to indicate which format is being used.
2. A mandatory serial number in the MICR line must be encoded on the bottom of the cheque.
3. An increase in the minimum length of a cheque from 6” to 6 1/4”, or 15.88 cm, to ensure there is sufficient space to accommodate the mandatory serial number in the MICR line.
4. Standardized positions for key fields on the cheque, such as the amount field.
5. Disallowance of elements that may hinder the capture of images from the cheques, such as inverse printing, italics, slanted fonts, a bottom border printed below the MICR line and the use of black carbon on the reverse of cheques.
6. A provision to ensure that security features do not interfere with image capture for “areas of interest” as defined in Standard 006, Part A.
7. New printing requirements on the reverse of the cheque.
   
   Plus, some revisions to technical specifications such as maximum Print Contrast Signal to ensure high-quality images can be consistently captured.

   Answers to questions about the new cheque standards

   To learn more about the new cheque standards, visit the Canadian Payments Association website at www.cdnpay.ca