VICTORIA - The electronic submission of survey plans will enhance service and provide efficiencies for clients, BC Land Title and Survey Authority CEO Godfrey Archbold said today.

"Surveys are an essential component of property transactions in British Columbia and moving to electronic submission of survey plans supports modernization of our business practices," said Archbold. 'Digital submissions of survey plans and data will enable automation in the updating and maintenance of survey and land ownership electronic records. Digital survey plan submission will speed up the survey registration process and make British Columbia a more competitive and attractive place to invest."

The first release of this new system will allow legal survey plans to be submitted to the Crown Land Registry through the Electronic Filing System of the Land Title and Survey Authority. The next release of the system will allow survey plans to be submitted for Land Title registration.

These technological improvements support the Authority's goal of enhancing client services. To meet this objective, the Authority consulted with the Association of British Columbia Land Surveyors, representative municipalities and various government agencies.

"Timely, efficient and accurate registration and recall of these plans is crucial to the development process; providing certainty of research and security of tenure to the development community," said Richard Redfern, President of the Association of British Columbia Land Surveyors. "This statutory change will create an opportunity to automate the entire survey plan submission and approval process, and make it consistent with other provinces such as Alberta, where digital survey plan submission is already in place."

The electronic submission of digital survey plans and data to the Crown Land Registry is consistent with the Authority's commitment to improve customer service through enhanced use of new technology. The Authority has successfully used its electronic filing system with land title documents and this experience has helped ensure a smooth transition to the digital submission of survey plans and provide a foundation for further electronic service enhancements.