A 20-person Stakeholder Advisory Council (SAC) provides advice and input to represent the diverse interests of users of the payments system. The SAC was established in 1996 on a voluntary basis and was formalized in the "Canadian Payments Act" in 2001. The SAC provides advice to the Payments Canada Board of Directors on payment, clearing, and settlement matters, and contributes input on proposed initiatives, including by-laws, policy statements, and rules that affect third parties. It also identifies issues that might concern payment system users and third-party service providers, and suggests how they could be addressed.