Customs Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. 1 (2nd Supp.))

Marginal note:Search of the person

• 98 (1) An officer may search

  • (a) any person who has arrived in Canada, within a reasonable time after his arrival in Canada,

  • (b) any person who is about to leave Canada, at any time prior to his departure, or

  • (c) any person who has had access to an area designated for use by persons about to leave Canada and who leaves the area but does not leave Canada, within a reasonable time after he leaves the area,

  if the officer suspects on reasonable grounds that the person has secreted on or about his person anything in respect of which this Act has been or might be contravened, anything that would afford evidence with respect to a contravention of this Act or any goods the importation or exportation of which is prohibited, controlled or regulated under this or any other Act of Parliament.

• Marginal note:Person taken before senior officer

  (2) An officer who is about to search a person under this section shall, on the request of that person, forthwith take him before the senior officer at the place where the search is to take place.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (3) A senior officer before whom a person is taken pursuant to subsection (2) shall, if he sees no reasonable grounds for the search, discharge the person or, if he believes otherwise, direct that the person be searched.

• Marginal note:Search by same sex

  (4) No person shall be searched under this section by a person who is not of the same sex, and if there is no officer of the same sex at the place at which the search is to take place, an officer may authorize any suitable person of the same sex to perform the search.