Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Regulations (SOR/2002-184)

• 33.3 (1) Subject to subsection (2), every legal counsel and every legal firm is subject to Part 1 of the Act when they engage in any of the following activities on behalf of any person or entity:

  • (a) receiving or paying funds, other than those received or paid in respect of professional fees, disbursements, expenses or bail; or

  • (b) giving instructions in respect of any activity referred to in paragraph (a).

• (2) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of legal counsel when they engage in any of the activities referred to in that subsection on behalf of their employer.

33.4 Subject to subsection 62(2), every legal counsel and every legal firm shall, when engaging in an activity described in section 33.3, keep the following records:

• (a) a receipt of funds record in respect of every amount of $3,000 or more that they receive in the course of a single transaction, unless the amount is received from a financial entity or a public body; and

• (b) where the receipt of funds record is in respect of a client that is a corporation, a copy of the part of official corporate records that contains any provision relating to the power to bind the corporation in respect of transactions with the legal counsel or legal firm.

33.5 A legal counsel or legal firm that, in connection with a transaction, receives funds from the trust account of a legal firm or from the trust account of a legal counsel who is not acting on behalf of their employer,

• (a) must keep and retain a record of that fact; and

• (b) is not required to include in the receipt of funds record that is kept in respect of those funds

  • (i) the number and type of any account that is affected by the transaction, or

  • (ii) the full name of the person or entity that is the holder of that account.

• 34. (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), every accountant and every accounting firm is subject to Part 1 of the Act when they

  • (a) engage in any of the following activities on behalf of any person or entity, namely,

    • (i) receiving or paying funds,

    • (ii) purchasing or selling securities, real properties or business assets or entities, or

    • (iii) transferring funds or securities by any means; or

  • (b) give instructions on behalf of any person or entity in respect of any activity referred to in paragraph (a).

  • (c) [Repealed, SOR/2007-122, s. 39]

• (2) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of an accountant when they engage in any of the activities referred to in paragraph (1)(a) or (b) on behalf of their employer.

• (3) For greater certainty, subsection (1) does not apply in respect of audit, review or compilation engagements, carried out in accordance with the recommendations set out in the CICA Handbook.