Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (S.C. 1999, c. 33)

Marginal note:Liability for costs

228.1 If a thing is seized under this Act, the person who owned the thing at the time it was seized, the person who had charge or control of the thing immediately before it was seized and the person who possessed it immediately before it was seized are jointly and severally, or solidarily, liable for all the costs of seizure, detention, maintenance and forfeiture, including any destruction or disposal costs, incurred by Her Majesty in right of Canada in relation to the thing in excess of any proceeds of its disposition, if any.

Marginal note:Forfeiture on consent

• 229. (1) Where an enforcement officer has seized a thing under section 220 or subsection 223(1) and the owner or person who was in lawful possession of it at the time of the seizure consents in writing at the request of the enforcement officer to its forfeiture, it is thereupon forfeited to Her Majesty in right of Canada.

• Marginal note:Disposal or destruction

  (2) The Minister may dispose of or destroy anything forfeited under subsection (1) and, if the Minister so directs, the costs of the disposal or destruction shall be paid by the owner or the person who was in lawful possession of it at the time it was seized.

Marginal note:Forfeiture by order of court

• 230. (1) Subject to sections 231 and 232, where a person is convicted of an offence under this Act and anything seized under section 220 or subsection 223(1) is then being detained,

  • (a) the thing is, on the conviction and in addition to any punishment imposed for the offence, forfeited to Her Majesty in right of Canada, if the court so directs, in which case

    • (i) the Minister may dispose of or destroy the thing, and

    • (ii) the costs of the forfeiture and disposal or destruction shall be paid by the offender; or

  • (b) the thing shall, on the expiry of the time for taking an appeal from the conviction or on the final conclusion of the proceedings, as the case may be, be restored to the person from whom it was seized or to any other person entitled to its possession on any conditions that may be imposed by order of the court and that, in the opinion of the court, are necessary to avoid the commission of a further offence under this Act.

• Marginal note:Things deemed not to have been seized

  (2) For the purpose of subsection (1), anything released from detention under paragraph 223(4)(a) or (b) is deemed not to have been seized under section 220 or subsection 223(1).

Marginal note:Court may order forfeiture

231. If the owner of any ship, aircraft, platform or other structure has been convicted of an offence under this Act, the convicting court may, if the ship, aircraft, platform or structure was seized under section 220 or subsection 223(1), in addition to any other penalty imposed, order that the ship, aircraft, platform or structure, or any security given under subsection 222(1), be forfeited, and on the making of such an order the ship, aircraft, platform, structure or security is forfeited to Her Majesty in right of Canada.