{
  "$schema": "https://govschema.org/spec/v0.3/govschema.schema.json",
  "govschemaVersion": "0.3.0",
  "id": "ca/on/registration/sole-proprietorship-registration",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "title": "Ontario Sole Proprietorship Business Name Registration (Form 5288E)",
  "description": "Register a business name for a sole proprietorship in Ontario by filing Form 5288E, \"Register a Business Name for a Sole Proprietorship,\" under the Business Names Act (BNA) with the Ontario Business Registry (Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery). Required whenever an individual trades under a name other than their own full legal name. Scoped to the single most common path through the form: a principal place of business with a standard (non-rural) address in Ontario, a sole proprietor whose address for service is either the same as that business address or another standard Canadian address, and the sole proprietor authorizing the registration directly (rather than through a person acting under power of attorney). Out of scope, and not modelled: lot/concession (rural) addressing anywhere on the form; a principal place of business located outside Ontario (Canada/U.S.A./international variants); a sole proprietor's address for service outside Canada; and the entire \"Person Acting Under Power of Attorney\" authorization pathway (individual, corporation/registered entity, or other-entity representative, each with its own address and, for the latter two, a signing officer) — all rarer paths through Form 5288E; see VERIFICATION.md. Form 5289E (amending an existing registration) and Form 5298E (registering a general or limited partnership's business name) are distinct forms and out of scope for this document. This document does not submit the filing; the live Ontario Business Registry and ontario.ca sources are always authoritative.",
  "status": "draft",
  "jurisdiction": {
    "country": "CA",
    "level": "subnational",
    "subdivision": "CA-ON"
  },
  "authority": {
    "name": "Ontario Business Registry (Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery)",
    "abbreviation": "OBR",
    "url": "https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontario-business-registry-all-services"
  },
  "process": {
    "type": "registration",
    "language": "en-CA"
  },
  "source": {
    "url": "https://forms.mgcs.gov.on.ca/dataset/d329ad90-4ac4-41ce-b8d7-2dbd5a031a81/resource/e9694c5d-3842-468a-bd3f-592901ae7d71/download/5288e.pdf",
    "retrievedAt": "2026-07-09",
    "documentRef": "Form 5288E (2024/02) — Register a Business Name for a Sole Proprietorship, Business Names Act"
  },
  "verification": {
    "method": "manual-source-review-v1",
    "lastVerifiedAt": "2026-07-09",
    "verifiedBy": "GovSchema Engineering (Standards Engineer)",
    "nextReviewBy": "2027-01-01",
    "notes": "Source-derived reference schema authored from the Ontario Central Forms Repository's official fillable Form 5288E (edition 2024/02), a dynamic Adobe LiveCycle/XFA PDF retrieved directly from forms.mgcs.gov.on.ca (an ontario.ca-family domain; the same source family already used for ca/on/registration/business-incorporation, Form 5351E). This document's own encryption (AES-128, empty user password, R4) was decrypted from the PDF's own /Encrypt dictionary directly in Node (crypto.createDecipheriv against the file/object key derived per the PDF standard security handler's Algorithm 2), then the /XFA array's 'template' and 'datasets' packets were located by object number and zlib-inflated, giving the form's real internal field names, captions, per-field assist.toolTip accessibility text (which independently carries the full section path and mandatory-field status for nearly every visible field), maxChars constraints, and dropdown item lists. Cross-checked against pdfjs-dist's independent, unrelated decryption of the form's own instruction document (5288E_Instruction, same edition), which pdfjs-dist decrypts and renders as plain text natively. See VERIFICATION.md for the full field-by-field sourcing and every disclosed scope decision."
  },
  "maturity": {
    "level": "structural-reference",
    "criteria": {
      "structuralReference": true,
      "verifiedSchema": false,
      "agentReadySchema": false,
      "executionTestedSchema": false
    },
    "method": "maturity-self-assessment-v1",
    "assertedBy": "GovSchema Engineering (Standards Engineer)",
    "assertedAt": "2026-07-09"
  },
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "fields": [
    {
      "name": "contactFirstName",
      "label": "Contact person — first name",
      "type": "string",
      "required": true,
      "description": "First name of the person to contact regarding this filing. Not shown on the public record; the ministry contacts this person with any questions about the application.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 1, Contact Information",
      "classification": "pii",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 30 }
    },
    {
      "name": "contactMiddleName",
      "label": "Contact person — middle name",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Optional middle name of the filing contact.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 1, Contact Information",
      "classification": "pii",
      "validation": { "maxLength": 13 }
    },
    {
      "name": "contactLastName",
      "label": "Contact person — last name",
      "type": "string",
      "required": true,
      "description": "Last name of the filing contact.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 1, Contact Information",
      "classification": "pii",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 50 }
    },
    {
      "name": "contactTelephoneCountryCode",
      "label": "Contact person — telephone country code",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Country calling code for the contact's telephone number, e.g. '1' for Canada/US.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 1, Contact Information",
      "validation": { "maxLength": 12 }
    },
    {
      "name": "contactTelephoneNumber",
      "label": "Contact person — telephone number",
      "type": "string",
      "required": true,
      "description": "Telephone number of the filing contact.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 1, Contact Information",
      "classification": "pii",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 12 }
    },
    {
      "name": "contactTelephoneExtension",
      "label": "Contact person — telephone extension",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Optional extension for the contact's telephone number.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 1, Contact Information",
      "validation": { "maxLength": 5 }
    },
    {
      "name": "contactEmail",
      "label": "Contact person — email address",
      "type": "string",
      "required": true,
      "description": "Email address of the filing contact. Not shown on the public record; documents related to the application are emailed here.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 1, Contact Information",
      "classification": "pii",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 50 }
    },
    {
      "name": "proposedBusinessName",
      "label": "Proposed business name",
      "type": "string",
      "required": true,
      "description": "The business name the sole proprietor intends to trade under. It is the applicant's own responsibility to ensure the name complies with the Business Names Act and its regulations; the ministry does not check proposed names against existing registrations before filing.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 2, Business Name",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 120 }
    },
    {
      "name": "primaryActivityCode",
      "label": "Primary activity code",
      "type": "string",
      "required": true,
      "description": "The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code that best describes the main activity carried out under the business name, e.g. '812116' for a unisex hair styling shop. Required under the Business Names Act and appears on the public record.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 3, General Details",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 6 }
    },
    {
      "name": "officialEmailAddress",
      "label": "Official email address",
      "type": "string",
      "required": true,
      "description": "An official email address for the business, not shown on the public record. Documents related to the application are sent here in addition to the contact person's email.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 3, General Details",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 50 }
    },
    {
      "name": "businessAddressStreetNumber",
      "label": "Principal place of business — street number",
      "type": "string",
      "required": true,
      "description": "Street number of the principal place of business. This document models the standard-address, in-Ontario path only; the lot/concession (rural) address path, and a principal place of business located outside Ontario, are out of scope — see VERIFICATION.md.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 4, Address of the Principal Place of Business — Standard Address",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 6 }
    },
    {
      "name": "businessAddressStreetName",
      "label": "Principal place of business — street name",
      "type": "string",
      "required": true,
      "description": "Street name of the principal place of business.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 4, Address of the Principal Place of Business — Standard Address",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 45 }
    },
    {
      "name": "businessAddressUnitNumber",
      "label": "Principal place of business — unit number",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Optional unit or suite number of the principal place of business.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 4, Address of the Principal Place of Business — Standard Address",
      "validation": { "maxLength": 8 }
    },
    {
      "name": "businessAddressCity",
      "label": "Principal place of business — city or town",
      "type": "string",
      "required": true,
      "description": "City or town of the principal place of business.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 4, Address of the Principal Place of Business — Standard Address",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 45 }
    },
    {
      "name": "businessAddressProvince",
      "label": "Principal place of business — province",
      "type": "enum",
      "required": true,
      "description": "This document models the case where the principal place of business is in Ontario, so this value is fixed. Form 5288E's own 'Do you have a place of business in Ontario?' branch offers a 'No' path with an out-of-Ontario Canadian, U.S., or international address instead; out of scope here.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 4, Address of the Principal Place of Business",
      "validation": { "enum": ["Ontario"] }
    },
    {
      "name": "businessAddressPostalCode",
      "label": "Principal place of business — postal code",
      "type": "string",
      "required": true,
      "description": "Canadian postal code of the principal place of business, format A1A 1A1.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 4, Address of the Principal Place of Business — Standard Address",
      "validation": { "pattern": "^[A-Za-z][0-9][A-Za-z] ?[0-9][A-Za-z][0-9]$", "maxLength": 7 }
    },
    {
      "name": "soleProprietorFirstName",
      "label": "Sole proprietor — first name",
      "type": "string",
      "required": true,
      "description": "First name of the individual who owns and operates the business as a sole proprietor.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 5, Sole Proprietor",
      "classification": "pii",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 30 }
    },
    {
      "name": "soleProprietorMiddleName",
      "label": "Sole proprietor — middle name",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Optional middle name of the sole proprietor.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 5, Sole Proprietor",
      "classification": "pii",
      "validation": { "maxLength": 13 }
    },
    {
      "name": "soleProprietorLastName",
      "label": "Sole proprietor — last name",
      "type": "string",
      "required": true,
      "description": "Last name of the sole proprietor.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 5, Sole Proprietor",
      "classification": "pii",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 50 }
    },
    {
      "name": "serviceAddressSameAsBusinessAddress",
      "label": "Is the sole proprietor's address for service the same as the principal place of business?",
      "type": "boolean",
      "required": true,
      "fieldRole": "eligibility",
      "description": "When true, the sole proprietor's address for service is the businessAddress* fields above and no further address is collected. When false, the live form instead presents a distinct address for service; see serviceAddress* fields below.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 5, Sole Proprietor — Address for Service"
    },
    {
      "name": "serviceAddressStreetNumber",
      "label": "Sole proprietor's address for service — street number",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "requiredWhen": { "field": "serviceAddressSameAsBusinessAddress", "equals": false },
      "description": "Street number of the sole proprietor's address for service, only collected when it differs from the principal place of business. This document models the standard-address, Canadian path only; the lot/concession (rural) path and a U.S./international address for service are out of scope — see VERIFICATION.md.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 5, Sole Proprietor — Address for Service, Standard Address",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 6 }
    },
    {
      "name": "serviceAddressStreetName",
      "label": "Sole proprietor's address for service — street name",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "requiredWhen": { "field": "serviceAddressSameAsBusinessAddress", "equals": false },
      "description": "Street name of the sole proprietor's address for service.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 5, Sole Proprietor — Address for Service, Standard Address",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 45 }
    },
    {
      "name": "serviceAddressUnitNumber",
      "label": "Sole proprietor's address for service — unit number",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Optional unit or suite number of the sole proprietor's address for service.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 5, Sole Proprietor — Address for Service, Standard Address",
      "validation": { "maxLength": 8 }
    },
    {
      "name": "serviceAddressCity",
      "label": "Sole proprietor's address for service — city or town",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "requiredWhen": { "field": "serviceAddressSameAsBusinessAddress", "equals": false },
      "description": "City or town of the sole proprietor's address for service.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 5, Sole Proprietor — Address for Service, Standard Address",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 45 }
    },
    {
      "name": "serviceAddressProvince",
      "label": "Sole proprietor's address for service — province",
      "type": "enum",
      "required": false,
      "requiredWhen": { "field": "serviceAddressSameAsBusinessAddress", "equals": false },
      "description": "Province of the sole proprietor's address for service, scoped to Canada (the live form's own dropdown for this specific address includes all thirteen provinces/territories, including Ontario, since the address for service need not itself be in Ontario).",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 5, Sole Proprietor — Address for Service, Standard Address",
      "validation": {
        "enum": [
          "Alberta", "British Columbia", "Manitoba", "New Brunswick",
          "Newfoundland and Labrador", "Nova Scotia", "Northwest Territories",
          "Nunavut", "Ontario", "Prince Edward Island", "Quebec",
          "Saskatchewan", "Yukon"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "serviceAddressPostalCode",
      "label": "Sole proprietor's address for service — postal code",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "requiredWhen": { "field": "serviceAddressSameAsBusinessAddress", "equals": false },
      "description": "Canadian postal code of the sole proprietor's address for service, format A1A 1A1.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 5, Sole Proprietor — Address for Service, Standard Address",
      "validation": { "pattern": "^[A-Za-z][0-9][A-Za-z] ?[0-9][A-Za-z][0-9]$", "maxLength": 7 }
    },
    {
      "name": "authorizingPersonType",
      "label": "Who is authorizing this registration?",
      "type": "enum",
      "required": true,
      "description": "This document models the case where the sole proprietor authorizes the registration directly. Form 5288E's own 'Person Acting Under Power of Attorney' path (an individual, a corporation/registered entity, or an 'other' entity acting on the sole proprietor's behalf, each with its own address for service and, for the latter two, a signing officer's full name and position) is out of scope — see VERIFICATION.md.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 6, Authorization",
      "validation": { "enum": ["sole_proprietor"] }
    },
    {
      "name": "authorizingFullName",
      "label": "Sole proprietor's full name (authorization)",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "description": "The sole proprietor's full name, confirming that they are authorizing this registration. This field is access=\"readOnly\" on the live form and is always derived by the form's own calculate script by concatenating soleProprietorFirstName/MiddleName/LastName — it is never typed independently, which is why it carries no printed mandatory asterisk. Not modelled as a required direct input: an implementer MUST still populate/submit this value, computed from soleProprietorFirstName/MiddleName/LastName, rather than collect it as independent user input — see VERIFICATION.md.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 6, Authorization — Sole Proprietor",
      "classification": "pii",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 120 }
    },
    {
      "name": "confirmationConfirmed",
      "label": "Confirmation of accuracy",
      "type": "boolean",
      "required": true,
      "description": "Confirmation that the contact person has reviewed the application and confirms the accuracy of the information submitted. See documents[].confirmationAttestation for the statement text, and the form's own caution that the Business Names Act sets out penalties, including fines, for submitting false or misleading information.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 7, Confirmation"
    }
  ],
  "documents": [
    {
      "id": "confirmationAttestation",
      "label": "Confirmation of accuracy",
      "category": "attestation",
      "required": true,
      "statement": "I, {contact person's full name}, confirm the accuracy of the information submitted.",
      "sourceRef": "Form 5288E, Section 7, Confirmation"
    }
  ],
  "steps": [
    {
      "id": "contact_information",
      "title": "Contact information",
      "fields": [
        "contactFirstName", "contactMiddleName", "contactLastName",
        "contactTelephoneCountryCode", "contactTelephoneNumber", "contactTelephoneExtension", "contactEmail"
      ],
      "next": "business_name"
    },
    {
      "id": "business_name",
      "title": "Business name",
      "fields": ["proposedBusinessName"],
      "next": "general_details"
    },
    {
      "id": "general_details",
      "title": "General details",
      "fields": ["primaryActivityCode", "officialEmailAddress"],
      "next": "business_address"
    },
    {
      "id": "business_address",
      "title": "Address of the principal place of business",
      "fields": [
        "businessAddressStreetNumber", "businessAddressStreetName", "businessAddressUnitNumber",
        "businessAddressCity", "businessAddressProvince", "businessAddressPostalCode"
      ],
      "next": "sole_proprietor"
    },
    {
      "id": "sole_proprietor",
      "title": "Sole proprietor",
      "fields": [
        "soleProprietorFirstName", "soleProprietorMiddleName", "soleProprietorLastName",
        "serviceAddressSameAsBusinessAddress", "serviceAddressStreetNumber", "serviceAddressStreetName",
        "serviceAddressUnitNumber", "serviceAddressCity", "serviceAddressProvince", "serviceAddressPostalCode"
      ],
      "next": "authorization"
    },
    {
      "id": "authorization",
      "title": "Authorization",
      "fields": ["authorizingPersonType", "authorizingFullName"],
      "next": "confirmation"
    },
    {
      "id": "confirmation",
      "title": "Confirmation",
      "fields": ["confirmationConfirmed"]
    }
  ]
}