Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act (S.C. 2014, c. 39, s. 376)

Designation

Marginal note:Designation

15 The Minister may designate persons or classes of persons for the purposes of the administration and enforcement of this Act.

Designated Person’s Powers

Marginal note:Entry into a place

• 16 (1) A designated person may, for a purpose related to verifying compliance with this Act, enter any place in which the person has reasonable grounds to believe there is anything to which this Act applies or any document relating to the administration of this Act.

• Marginal note:Powers on entry

  (2) The designated person may, for the purpose referred to in subsection (1),

  • (a) examine anything in the place including any document;

  • (b) use any means of communication in the place or cause it to be used;

  • (c) use any computer system in the place, or cause it to be used, to examine data contained in or available to it, or reproduce the data, or cause it to be reproduced, in the form of a printout or other intelligible output and remove any printout or output for examination or copying;

  • (d) prepare a document, or cause one to be prepared, based on the data;

  • (e) use any copying equipment in the place, or cause it to be used;

  • (f) take photographs or make recordings or sketches of anything in the place;

  • (g) direct any person to put any equipment in the place into operation or to cease operating it;

  • (h) prohibit or limit access to all or part of the place or to anything in the place; and

  • (i) remove anything from the place for the purpose of examination.

• Marginal note:Persons accompanying designated person

  (3) The designated person may be accompanied by any person that they believe is necessary to help them exercise their powers or perform their duties or functions under this section.

• Marginal note:Assistance

  (4) The owner or person in charge of the place and every person in the place must give all assistance that is reasonably required to enable the designated person to exercise their powers or perform their duties or functions under this section and is to provide any documents or information, and access to any data, that is reasonably required for that purpose.

Marginal note:Warrant to enter dwelling-house

• 17 (1) If the place referred to in subsection 16(1) is a dwelling-house, the designated person may enter it without the occupant’s consent only under the authority of a warrant issued under subsection (2).

• Marginal note:Authority to issue warrant

  (2) On ex parte application, a justice of the peace may issue a warrant authorizing the designated person to enter a dwelling-house, subject to any conditions specified in the warrant, if the justice is satisfied by information on oath that

  • (a) the dwelling-house is a place referred to in subsection 16(1);

  • (b) entry to the dwelling-house is necessary for a purpose related to verifying compliance with this Act; and

  • (c) entry was refused by the occupant or there are reasonable grounds to believe that entry will be refused by, or that consent to entry cannot be obtained from, the occupant.

Marginal note:Obstruction

18 A person must not obstruct or hinder a person who is exercising powers or performing duties or functions under this Act.

Order — Corrective Measures

Marginal note:Minister’s power

• 19 (1) If, on the basis of information obtained under section 14 or 16, the Minister is of the opinion that an entity is not in compliance with section 9 or 12, the Minister may, by order, require the entity to take measures that he or she considers to be necessary to ensure compliance with those provisions.

• Marginal note:Non-application of Statutory Instruments Act

  (2) The Statutory Instruments Act does not apply to an order referred to in subsection (1).

Minister’s Powers

Marginal note:Agreement with another jurisdiction

20 The Minister may enter into an agreement or arrangement with the government of another jurisdiction relating to the administration or enforcement of this Act or that jurisdiction’s reporting requirements.

Marginal note:Disclosure — powers, duties and functions

21 The Minister may disclose information obtained under this Act for the purpose of exercising powers or performing duties and functions under this Act.

Marginal note:Delegation

22 The Minister may delegate to any person or body any power, duty or function conferred on the Minister under this Act except the power to delegate under this section.

Regulations

Marginal note:Regulations

• 23 (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations, for carrying the purposes and provisions of this Act into effect, including regulations

  • (a) defining exploration and extraction;

  • (b) respecting the circumstances in which any of the provisions of this Act do not apply to entities, payments or payees;

  • (c) prescribing the circumstances in which an entity is controlled by another entity;

  • (d) for the purposes of subsection 9(2), respecting the payments that are to be disclosed under subsection 9(1);

  • (e) prescribing the rate of exchange for the conversion of payments into Canadian dollars;

  • (f) respecting the information that must be made available to the public under section 12;

  • (g) respecting the records to be kept for the purposes of section 13 and the manner in which they are to be kept;

  • (h) prescribing anything that may, by this Act, be prescribed; and

  • (i) prescribing the way in which anything that may be prescribed is to be determined.

• Marginal note:Incorporation by reference

  (2) Regulations made under this section may, in whole or in part, incorporate by reference, as it is amended from time to time or as it exists on a particular date,

  • (a) a document produced by a person or body other than the Minister; or

  • (b) a technical or explanatory document produced by the Minister, including specifications, classifications, illustrations, graphs, test methods, procedures, operational stand­ards and performance standards.

• Marginal note:Accessibility

  (3) The Minister is to ensure that any document that is incorporated by reference in the regulations is accessible.

• Marginal note:Not liable to be found guilty

  (4) A person is not liable to be found guilty of an offence for any contravention in respect of which a document that is incorporated by reference in the regulations is relevant unless, at the time of the alleged contravention, the document was accessible as required by subsection (3) or it was otherwise accessible to the person.

• Marginal note:Registration or publication not required

  (5) For greater certainty, a document that is incorporated by reference in a regulation is not required to be transmitted for registration or published in the Canada Gazette under the Statutory Instruments Act by reason only that it is incorporated by reference.

Offences and Punishment

Marginal note:Offence

• 24 (1) Every person or entity that fails to comply with section 9, 12 or 13, an order made under section 14, subsection 16(4) or an order made under section 19, or that contravenes section 18 or the regulations, is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine of not more than $250,000.

• Marginal note:False or misleading statement or information

  (2) Every person or entity that knowingly makes any false or misleading statement or knowingly provides false or misleading information — including with respect to the category of payment in respect of which a payment was made — to the Minister or a person designated under section 15 is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine of not more than $250,000.

• Marginal note:Avoidance

  (3) Every entity is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine of not more than $250,000 if it structures any payments — or any other financial obligations or gifts, whether monetary or in kind, that relate to its commercial development of oil, gas or minerals — with the intention of avoiding the requirement to report those payments, obligations or gifts in accordance with this Act.

• Marginal note:Continuing offence

  (4) If an offence under this section is committed or continued on more than one day, it constitutes a separate offence for each day on which the offence is committed or continued.

Marginal note:Liability of officers, directors, etc.

25 If a person or an entity commits an offence under this Act, any officer, director or agent or mandatary of the person or entity who directed, authorized, assented to, acquiesced in or participated in its commission is a party to and guilty of the offence and liable on conviction to the punishment provided for the offence, whether or not the person or entity has been prosecuted or convicted.

Marginal note:Offence by employee or agent or mandatary

26 In a prosecution for an offence under subsection 24(1),

• (a) it is sufficient proof of the offence to establish that it was committed by an employee or agent or mandatary of the accused, whether or not the employee or agent or mandatary is identified or has been prosecuted for the offence; and

• (b) no person or entity is to be found guilty of the offence if they establish that they exercised due diligence to prevent its commission.

Marginal note:Time limitation

27 Proceedings under this Act may be instituted within, but not after, five years after the time when the subject matter of the proceedings arose.

Marginal note:Admissibility of evidence

• 28 (1) In proceedings for an offence under this Act, a document that is purported to have been signed by the Minister or a designated person is admissible in evidence without proof of the signature or official character of the person appearing to have signed it and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, is proof of the matters asserted in it.

• Marginal note:Copies and extracts

  (2) In proceedings for an offence under this Act, a copy of or an extract from any document that is made by the Minister or a designated person that appears to have been certified under the signature of the Minister or that person as a true copy or extract is admissible in evidence without proof of the signature or official character of the person appearing to have signed it and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, has the same probative force as the original would have if it were proved in the ordinary way.

• Marginal note:Presumed date of issue

  (3) A document referred to in this section is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, presumed to have been issued on the date that it bears.

• Marginal note:Notice

  (4) No document referred to in this section is to be received in evidence unless the party intending to produce it has provided reasonable notice of that intention to the party against whom it is intended to be produced together with a copy of the document.

Transitional Provisions

Marginal note:Aboriginal government in Canada

29 The provisions of this Act do not apply to any payment made by an entity to the following payees during the two-year period that begins on the day on which section 2 comes into force:

• (a) an Aboriginal government in Canada;

• (b) a body established by two or more Aboriginal governments in Canada; and

• (c) any trust, board, commission, corporation or body or authority that is established to exercise or perform, or that exercises or performs, a power, duty or function of government for a government referred to in paragraph (a) or a body referred to in paragraph (b).

Marginal note:Past and current financial years

30 No entity is required to comply with section 9, 12 or 13 with respect to the financial year in progress on the day on which section 9 comes into force and for any previous financial year.