Global Minimum Tax Act (S.C. 2024, c. 17, s. 81)

Marginal note:Definitions

• 123 (1) The following definitions apply in this section.

  authorized person

  authorized person means a person that is engaged or employed, or who was formerly engaged or employed, by or on behalf of His Majesty in right of Canada to assist in carrying out the provisions of this Act. (personne autorisée)

  confidential information

  confidential information means information of any kind and in any form that relates to one or more persons and that is

  • (a) obtained by or on behalf of the Minister for the purposes of this Act; or

  • (b) prepared from information referred to in paragraph (a).

  It does not include information that does not directly or indirectly reveal the identity of the person to whom it relates. (renseignement confidentiel)

  court of appeal

  court of appeal has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Criminal Code. (cour d’appel)

• Marginal note:Provision of confidential information

  (2) Except as authorized under this section, an official must not knowingly

  • (a) provide, or allow to be provided, to any person any confidential information;

  • (b) allow any person to have access to any confidential information; or

  • (c) use any confidential information other than in the course of the administration or enforcement of this Act.

• Marginal note:Confidential information evidence not compellable

  (3) Despite any other Act of Parliament or other law, no official is required, in connection with any legal proceedings, to give or produce evidence relating to any confidential information.

• Marginal note:Communications — proceedings

  (4) Subsections (2) and (3) do not apply in respect of

  • (a) criminal proceedings, by way of either indictment or summary conviction, that have been commenced by the laying of an information or the preferring of an indictment, under an Act of Parliament;

  • (b) any legal proceedings relating to the administration or enforcement of this Act, the Canada Pension Plan, the Employment Insurance Act or any other Act of Parliament or law of a province that provides for the payment of a tax or duty, before a court of record, including a court of record in a jurisdiction outside Canada; or

  • (c) any legal proceedings under an international agreement relating to trade before

    • (i) a court of record, including a court of record in a jurisdiction outside Canada,

    • (ii) an international organization, or

    • (iii) a dispute settlement panel or an appellate body created under an international agreement relating to trade.

• Marginal note:Authorized provision of confidential information

  (5) The Minister may provide appropriate persons with any confidential information that may reasonably be regarded as necessary solely for a purpose relating to the life, health or safety of an individual.

• Marginal note:Disclosure of confidential information

  (6) An official may

  • (a) provide to a person any confidential information that may reasonably be regarded as necessary for the purposes of

    • (i) the administration or enforcement of this Act, solely for those purposes, or

    • (ii) determining any liability or obligation of the person or any refund or other payment to which the person is or may become entitled under this Act;

  • (b) provide, allow to be provided, or allow inspection of or access to any confidential information to or by

    • (i) any person, or any person within a class of persons, that the Minister may authorize, subject to any conditions that the Minister may specify, or

    • (ii) any person otherwise legally entitled to the information because of an Act of Parliament, solely for the purposes for which that person is entitled to the information;

  • (c) provide confidential information

    • (i) to an official of the Department of Finance solely for the purposes of the administration of a federal-provincial agreement made under the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act,

    • (ii) to an official solely for the purposes of the formulation, evaluation or implementation of a fiscal or trade policy or solely for the purposes of the administration or enforcement of any Act of Parliament or law of a province that provides for the imposition or collection of a tax or duty or an international agreement relating to trade,

    • (iii) to an official solely for the purposes of the negotiation or implementation of an international agreement relating to trade, a tax treaty or an agreement for the exchange of information for tax purposes,

    • (iv) to an official as to the name, address, occupation, size or type of business of a person, solely for the purposes of enabling that official’s department or agency to obtain statistical data for research and analysis,

    • (v) to an official solely for the purpose of setting off, against any sum of money that may be payable by His Majesty in right of Canada, a debt due to

      • (A) His Majesty in right of Canada, or

      • (B) His Majesty in right of a province on account of taxes payable to the province if an agreement exists between Canada and the province under which Canada is authorized to collect taxes on behalf of the province, or

    • (vi) to an official solely for the purposes of section 7.1 of the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act;

  • (d) provide confidential information to an official or any person employed by or representing the government of a foreign state, an international organization established by the governments of states, a community of states, or an institution of any such government or organization, in accordance with and solely for the purposes set out in an international convention, agreement or other written arrangement relating to trade between the Government of Canada or an institution of the Government of Canada and the government of the foreign state, the organization, the community or the institution;

  • (e) provide confidential information, or allow the inspection of or access to confidential information, solely for the purposes of a provision contained in a tax treaty or in a listed international agreement (as those terms are defined in subsection 248(1) of the Income Tax Act);

  • (f) provide confidential information solely for the purposes of sections 23 to 25 of the Financial Administration Act;

  • (g) use confidential information to compile information in a form that does not directly or indirectly reveal the identity of the person to whom the information relates;

  • (h) use, or provide to any person, confidential information solely for a purpose relating to the supervision, evaluation or discipline of an authorized person by His Majesty in right of Canada in respect of a period during which the authorized person was employed by or engaged by or on behalf of His Majesty in right of Canada to assist in the administration or enforcement of this Act, to the extent that the information is relevant for that purpose;

  • (i) provide access to records of confidential information to the Librarian and Archivist of Canada or a person acting on behalf of or under the direction of the Librarian and Archivist, solely for the purposes of section 12 of the Library and Archives of Canada Act, and transfer such records to the care and control of such persons solely for the purposes of section 13 of that Act;

  • (j) use confidential information relating to a person to provide information to that person;

  • (k) provide confidential information to a police officer, as defined in subsection 462.48(17) of the Criminal Code, solely for the purposes of investigating whether an offence has been committed under the Criminal Code, or the laying of an information or the preferring of an indictment, if

    • (i) that information can reasonably be regarded as being relevant for the purpose of ascertaining the circumstances in which an offence under the Criminal Code may have been committed, or the identity of the person or persons who may have committed an offence, with respect to an official, or with respect to any person related to that official,

    • (ii) the official was or is engaged in the administration or enforcement of this Act, and

    • (iii) the offence can reasonably be considered to be related to that administration or enforcement; and

  • (l) provide information to a law enforcement officer of an appropriate police organization in the circumstances described in subsection 211(6.4) of the Excise Act, 2001.

• Marginal note:Measures to prevent unauthorized use or disclosure

  (7) The person presiding at a legal proceeding relating to the supervision, evaluation or discipline of an authorized person may order any measures that are necessary to ensure that confidential information is not used or provided to any person for any purpose not relating to that proceeding, including

  • (a) holding a hearing in camera;

  • (b) banning the publication of the information;

  • (c) concealing the identity of the person to whom the information relates; and

  • (d) sealing the records of the proceeding.

• Marginal note:Disclosure to person or on consent

  (8) An official may provide confidential information relating to a person

  • (a) to that person; and

  • (b) with the consent of that person, to any other person.

• Marginal note:Appeal from order or direction

  (9) An order or direction that is made in the course of or in connection with any legal proceedings and that requires an official to give or produce evidence relating to any confidential information may, by notice served on all interested parties, be appealed without delay by the Minister or by the person against whom the order or direction is made to

  • (a) the court of appeal of the province in which the order or direction is made, in the case of an order or direction made by a court or other tribunal established under the laws of the province, whether or not that court or tribunal is exercising a jurisdiction conferred by the laws of Canada; or

  • (b) the Federal Court of Appeal, in the case of an order or direction made by a court or other tribunal established under the laws of Canada.

• Marginal note:Disposition of appeal

  (10) The court to which an appeal is taken under subsection (9) may allow the appeal and quash the order or direction appealed from or dismiss the appeal, and the rules of practice and procedure from time to time governing appeals to the courts apply, with such modifications as the circumstances require, to an appeal instituted under that subsection.

• Marginal note:Stay

  (11) An appeal instituted under subsection (9) stays the operation of the order or direction appealed from until judgment is pronounced.