CPA Cheque Printer Self-Certification Program

The Canadian Payments Association (CPA) and its Direct Clearer/Group Clearer members, together with the Canadian Cheque Manufacturers Industry Group, have established a Cheque Printer Self-Certification Program to facilitate the acceptance of cheques produced by self-certified printers and processed by financial institutions with minimal reject rates.

This self-certification program is available to all Canadian cheque printing companies that:
(1) produce business cheques for sale in Canada, and (2) are able to attest to meeting the requirements set out in this self-certification program.

A six-month trial of the Cheque Printer Self-Certification Program is currently underway with a small number of eligible cheque printers who have volunteered to participate. This program will allow eligible cheque printers to provide a formal attestation to the CPA that they are capable of producing high-quality, Standard 006-compliant documents. CPA member financial institutions will agree to exempt cheques produced by self-certified printers from routine cheque testing requirements for Standard 006 compliance.

We are pleased to announce that Safeguard Canada through its parent has been accepted to participate in this program. Our 4-digit Printer Identification number is 1014 for imprinted cheques and 1014-B for blank cheque orders. The “B” number indicates we are certifying the base stock is CPA compliant but NOT the imprint the customer prints themselves.

Our certification number printed on the back of our cheques identifies our customers will not be required to send sample cheques for testing purposes to their Financial Institutions. As the “Printer,” we agree to ship only prequalified products that have been tested at print setup and prior to run approvals following industry best practices, and show to be in compliance with CPA Standard 006 within acceptable tolerances and maintain a current self certification.

If you have any further questions you can go to the Canadian Payments Web site: www.cdnpay.ca