Canada Shipping Act, 2001 (S.C. 2001, c. 26)

Marginal note:Civil or criminal liability

• 181. (1) A person who is directed to take or refrain from taking measures under paragraph 180(1)(c) is not personally liable, either civilly or criminally, in respect of any act or omission in the course of complying with the direction or doing anything incidental to it, unless it is shown that the person’s conduct was not reasonable in the circumstances.

• Marginal note:Civil or criminal liability

  (2) Response organizations and persons who have been designated in writing by the Minister as approved responders are not personally liable, either civilly or criminally, in respect of any act or omission occurring or arising during the course of a response operation unless it is shown that the act or omission was committed with the intent to cause loss or damage, or recklessly and with the knowledge that loss or damage would probably result.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) Nothing in subsection (1) exempts or lessens the liability of the owner of a vessel for the occurrence that necessitated the response operation.

• Marginal note:Definition of “response operation”

  (4) In this section, “response operation” means the activities undertaken following a discharge, or a grave and imminent threat of a discharge, from a vessel, including activities related to or connected with surveillance of and assessing areas of pollution, mobilizing and demobilizing response equipment and resources, protective booming, containment, recovery, dispersal or destruction of the pollutant, shoreline mitigation and restoration, transporting and disposing of recovered pollutant or waste materials and planning and supervising activities related to the response operation.

Marginal note:Regulations

182. The Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister, make regulations for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Part, including regulations

• (a) respecting the circumstances in which operators of oil handling facilities shall report discharges or anticipated discharges of pollutants, the manner of making the reports and the persons to whom the reports shall be made;

• (b) respecting the issuance, amendment, suspension, reinstatement, cancellation or renewal of certificates referred to in section 169;

• (c) respecting the purposes for which fees may be charged in relation to an arrangement referred to in paragraph 167(1)(a) or 168(1)(a) and the manner in which response organizations and persons who make an application under subsection 169(1) must calculate proposed fees before notifying the Minister of the fees under subsection 170(1);

• (d) respecting the establishment by response organizations of committees of persons who have arrangements with them and the provision to the committees of information regarding fees and proposed fees; and

• (e) prescribing anything that by this Part is to be prescribed.

Marginal note:Contravention of Act

• 183. (1) Every person who, or vessel that, contravenes any of the following commits an offence:

  • (a) paragraph 167(1)(a) (have an arrangement);

  • (b) paragraph 168(1)(a) (have an arrangement);

  • (c) paragraph 168(1)(e) (have procedures, equipment and resources available for immediate use);

  • (d) paragraph 168(3)(a) (implement oil pollution prevention plan);

  • (e) paragraph 168(3)(b) (implement oil pollution emergency plan);

  • (f) paragraph 171(b) (have equipment and resources at the site);

  • (g) paragraph 171(e) (implement response plan);

  • (h) a direction given under paragraph 175.1(2)(a), (c) or (d) (direction resulting from a discharge or possible discharge of a pollutant);

  • (i) subsection 177(7) (giving clearance to detained vessel);

  • (j) subsection 177(8) (moving detained vessel);

  • (k) section 178 (wilfully interfering with service of notice); or

  • (l) a direction given under paragraph 180(1)(c) (to take measures or refrain from doing so).

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (2) Every person who, or vessel that, commits an offence under subsection (1) is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than $1,000,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than eighteen months, or to both.