Change of Directors - 400 error

Entities
1

Hello,

I incorporated a new company (BC3000118) and tried to do a change of directors filing but am getting a 400 error that doesn’t specify what the issue is.

Here’s the request:

{
    "filing": {
        "header": {
            "name": "changeOfDirectors",
            "certifiedBy": "First Last",
            "date": "2025-04-24",
            "accountId": "XXXXX"
        },
        "business": {
            "foundingDate": "2025-04-24T19:21:45.384827+00:00",
            "identifier": "BC3000118",
            "legalName": "3000118 B.C. LTD.",
            "legalType": "BC"
        },
        "changeOfDirectors": {
            "directors": [
                {
                    "appointmentDate": "2025-04-24",
                    "cessationDate": null,
                    "officer": {
                        "firstName": "PATTY",
                        "middleInitial": "",
                        "lastName": "NEW",
                        "prevLastName": "",
                        "prevFirstName": "",
                        "prevMiddleInitial": "",
                        "email": ""
                    },
                    "actions": [
                        "addressChanged"
                    ],
                    "deliveryAddress": {
                        "streetAddress": "200 Changed Address",
                        "streetAddressAdditional": "",
                        "addressCity": "Vancouver",
                        "addressRegion": "BC",
                        "postalCode": "H0H 0H0",
                        "addressCountry": "CA"
                    }
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

and the 400 error response:

{
    "errorMessage": "API backend third party service error.",
    "rootCause": "errors:[error],filing:business:foundingDate:2025-04-24T19:21:45.384827+00:00,identifier:BC3000118,legalName:3000118 B.C. LTD.,legalType:BC,changeOfDirectors:directors:[actions:[addressChanged],appointmentDate:2025-04-24,cessationDate:null,deliveryAddress:addressCity:Vancouver,addressCountry:CA,addressRegion:BC,postalCode:H0H 0H0,streetAddress:200 Changed Address,streetAddressAdditional:,officer:email:,firstName:PATTY,lastName:NEW,middleInitial:,prevFirstName:,prevLastName:,prevMiddleInitial:],header:accountId:XXXXX,certifiedBy:First Last,date:2025-04-24,name:changeOfDirectors "
}

Thanks,
Patty

2

Hi Patty
we are reviewing the error and will get back to you with feedback

thanks!

3

Hi Patty,
The issue seems to be the missed property effectiveDate in the header of the payload. We tested without this property, and got the same error message and when effectiveDate property was added it went through

A sample header for CoD looks like this:

JSON

"header": {            "name": "changeOfDirectors",            "certifiedBy": "First Last",            "date": "2025-04-25T",            "effectiveDate": "2025-04-25T14:00:00.000+00:00",            "accountId": {{account-id}}        },

Please retest with the property effectiveDate in the header of the payload.

Thanks!

4

Thank you, I was able to get the filing through by putting an effectiveDate but I don’t think that’s listed as a required field in the API specs (https://developer.connect.gov.bc.ca/oas/br/model/filing_header) and I didn’t need to put an effectiveDate for the incorporation filing.

Is the effectiveDate just for future effective filings or do we need to provide it for all filings?

5

Hi Patty,
will check and confirm back

thanks!

6

Hi Patty,

Only the change of director filing requires the effectiveDate field to be populated. It’s optional for all other filings.

We will be updating the Business API spec to add a note around this.

7

Thanks Argus.

Is there a reason the effectiveDate is only required for the change of directors filing?
Also, can you confirm that these dates would be correct for this example scenario:

  • Patty P is an existing director, ceasing on March 13, 2025
  • Daniel D is a new director, appointed on March 13, 2025
  • Filing is done today (May 6th 2025) at 2:45 pm.

Then in the filing header:

  • The date field would be 2025-05-06
  • The effectiveDate field would be the date and time of the filing: 2025-05-06T21:45:00.000+00:00

and in the changeOfDirectors object:

  • The cessationDate for Patty P would be 2025-03-13
  • The appointmentDate for Daniel D would be 2025-03-13
8

@achiu - When you get a chance, can you confirm if the dates used in my previous reply are correct?

Thanks,
Patty

9

Hi Patty,

I will review and get back to you.

Argus

10

Hi Patty,

Please find the answers to your questions below.

The effective date for the change of directors filing is essentially the director change date.

date is correct.
The effective date would be march 13, 2025 as that is the director change date.

Yes, these dates are correct.

I have included an example(added two directors and ceased one) of a change of director filing I have done to provide more clarity. Note that if there is a need to have different director change dates, separate CoD filings will need to be submitted.

image
image1920×1684 130 KB

11

Thanks @achiu, some follow-up questions:

What time should we be using for the effective date? From the image, it seems like the user can only specify a date, not a time through the user interface?

12

Yes, the Registry UI does not allow the user to provide a time for the director change date(filing effective date).

You can pass in a UTC date for filing effective date that is essentially midnight pacific time which is what is done in the example I’ve included in the previous screenshot. i.e. 2023-02-05T08:00:00.000+00:00