Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (Sergei Magnitsky Law) (S.C. 2017, c. 21)

Disclosure

Marginal note:Duty to disclose — supervising and regulating agencies

• 7 (1) Every entity referred to in section 6 must disclose, every month, to the principal agency or body that supervises or regulates it under federal or provincial law, whether it is in possession or control of any property referred to in that section and, if so, the number of persons or dealings involved and the total value of the property.

• Marginal note:Duty to disclose — RCMP or CSIS

  (2) Every person in Canada and every Canadian outside Canada must disclose without delay to the Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or the Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service

  • (a) that they have reason to believe that property in their possession or control is owned, held or controlled by or on behalf of a foreign national who is the subject of an order or regulation made under section 4; and

  • (b) any information about a transaction or proposed transaction in respect of property referred to in paragraph (a).

• Marginal note:Immunity

  (3) No proceedings under this Act and no civil proceedings lie against a person for a disclosure made in good faith under subsection (1) or (2).

Rights of Foreign Nationals Who are the Subject of an Order or Regulation

Marginal note:Application

• 8 (1) A foreign national who is the subject of an order or regulation made under section 4 may apply in writing to the Minister to cease being the subject of the order or regulation.

• Marginal note:Recommendation

  (2) On receipt of the application, the Minister must decide whether there are reasonable grounds to recommend to the Governor in Council that the order or regulation be amended or repealed, as the case may be, so that the applicant ceases to be the subject of it.

• Marginal note:Time limit

  (3) The Minister must make a decision on the application within 90 days after the day on which the application is received.

• Marginal note:Notice if application rejected

  (4) The Minister must give notice without delay to the applicant of any decision to reject the application.

• Marginal note:New application

  (5) If there has been a material change in the applicant’s circumstances since their last application under subsection (1) was submitted, he or she may submit another application.

Application for a Certificate

Marginal note:Mistaken identity

• 9 (1) Any person in Canada or any Canadian outside Canada whose name is the same as or similar to the name of a foreign national who is the subject of an order or regulation made under section 4 may, if they claim not to be that foreign national, apply to the Minister in writing for a certificate stating that they are not that foreign national.

• Marginal note:Determination by Minister

  (2) Within 45 days after the day on which the application was received, the Minister must,

  • (a) if he or she is satisfied that the applicant is not the foreign national, issue the certificate to the applicant; or

  • (b) if he or she is not so satisfied, provide a notice to the applicant of his or her determination.

Marginal note:Reasonable expenses

• 10 (1) A foreign national who is the subject of an order or regulation made under section 4 may apply to the Minister in writing for a certificate to exempt property from the application of the order or regulation if the property is necessary to meet the reasonable expenses of the person and their dependents.

• Marginal note:Certificate

  (2) If the Minister determines that the property is necessary to meet the reasonable expenses of the applicant and their dependents, the Minister must issue a certificate to the applicant.

• Marginal note:Time limit

  (3) The Minister must make a decision on the application and, if applicable, issue a certificate within 90 days after the day on which the application is received.

Offences

Marginal note:Offence and punishment

11 Every person who knowingly contravenes or fails to comply with an order or regulation made under section 4

• (a) is guilty of an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years; or

• (b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and is liable to a fine of not more than $25,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than one year, or to both.

General

Marginal note:No civil liability

12 A person who, in relation to any property that is the subject of an order or regulation made under section 4, acts reasonably in taking, or omitting to take, measures to comply with the order or regulation is not liable in any civil action arising from having taken or omitted to take the measures if they took all reasonable steps to satisfy themselves that the property was property that is the subject of the order or regulation.

Marginal note:Existing equities maintained

13 All secured and unsecured rights and interests in any property that is the subject of an order or regulation made under section 4 that are held by a person, other than the foreign national who is the subject of the order or regulation, are entitled to the same ranking that they would have been entitled to had the order or regulation not been made.

Marginal note:Proceedings not precluded

14 The making of an order or regulation under section 4 does not preclude the commencement of proceedings under any Act of Parliament other than this Act, or any civil proceedings, in respect of any property that is the subject of the order or regulation.

Marginal note:Regulations

15 The Governor in Council may make regulations for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act.

Review and Report

Marginal note:Review

• 16 (1) Within five years after the day on which this section comes into force, a comprehensive review of the provisions and operation of this Act and of the Special Economic Measures Act must be undertaken by the committees of the Senate and of the House of Commons that are designated or established by each House for that purpose.

• Marginal note:Report

  (2) The committees referred to in subsection (1) must, within a year after a review is undertaken under that subsection or within any further time that may be authorized by the Senate or the House of Commons, as the case may be, submit a report on the review to Parliament, including a statement of any changes that the committees recommend.

• Marginal note:Review

  (3) Committees of the Senate and the House of Commons that are designated or established by each House for that purpose may conduct a review concerning the foreign nationals who are the subject of an order or regulation made under this Act and submit a report to the appropriate House together with their recommendations as to whether those foreign nationals should remain, or no longer be, the subject of that order or regulation.

Related Amendments

1992, c. 17Special Economic Measures Act

• 17 (1) The portion of subsection 4(1) of the Special Economic Measures Act before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:

  Marginal note:Orders and regulations

  • 4 (1) The Governor in Council may, if the Governor in Council is of the opinion that any of the circumstances described in subsection (1.1) has occurred,

• (2) Section 4 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (1):

  • Marginal note:Circumstances

    (1.1) The circumstances referred to in subsection (1) are the following:

    • (a) an international organization of states or association of states, of which Canada is a member, has made a decision or a recommendation or adopted a resolution calling on its members to take economic measures against a foreign state;

    • (b) a grave breach of international peace and security has occurred that has resulted in or is likely to result in a serious international crisis;

    • (c) gross and systematic human rights violations have been committed in a foreign state; or

    • (d) a national of a foreign state who is either a foreign public official, within the meaning of section 2 of the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, or an associate of such an official, is responsible for or complicit in ordering, controlling or otherwise directing acts of corruption — including bribery, the misappropriation of private or public assets for personal gain, the transfer of the proceeds of corruption to foreign states or any act of corruption related to expropriation, government contracts or the extraction of natural resources — which amount to acts of significant corruption when taking into consideration, among other things, their impact, the amounts involved, the foreign national’s influence or position of authority or the complicity of the government of the foreign state in question in the acts.