Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Act (S.C. 2001, c. 9)

AMENDMENTS NOT IN FORCE

• — 2024, c. 17, s. 213

  • • 213 (1) Subsection 18(1) of the Act is replaced by the following:

      • Commissioner to ascertain expenses

        • 18 (1) The Commissioner must, before December 31 in each year, ascertain the total amount of expenses incurred during the immediately preceding fiscal year for or in connection with the administration of this Act and the consumer provisions — excluding the expenses incurred in connection with the objects described in subsections 3(3) and (4) — and the amounts of any prescribed categories of those expenses in relation to any prescribed group of financial institutions and the external complaints body.

    • (2) Section 18 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (5.5):

      • Commissioner to ascertain expenses — participating entities

        (5.6) The Commissioner must, before December 31 in each year, ascertain the total amount of expenses incurred during the immediately preceding fiscal year in connection with the objects described in subsection 3(4).

      • Amount conclusive

        (5.7) The amount ascertained under subsection (5.6) is final and conclusive for the purposes of this section.

      • Assessment

        (5.8) As soon as possible after ascertaining the amount under subsection (5.6), the Commissioner must assess a portion of the total amount of expenses against each participating entity to the extent and in the manner that may be prescribed.

      • Interim assessment

        (5.9) The Commissioner may, during each fiscal year, prepare an interim assessment against any participating entity.

      • Assessment is binding

        (5.91) Every assessment and interim assessment is final and conclusive and binding on the participating entity against which it is made.

• — 2024, c. 17, s. 214

  • • 214 (1) Subsection 19(1) of the Act is amended by adding the following after paragraph (a.2):

      • (a.3) designating, as a violation that may be proceeded with under sections 20 to 31, the contravention of a specified provision of the Consumer-Driven Banking Act or its regulations, or the non-compliance with terms and conditions, undertakings or directions referred to in subparagraph 3(4)(a)(ii);

    • (2) Paragraph 19(1)(c.1) of the Act is replaced by the following:

      • (c.1) prescribing the circumstances in which the Commissioner and Senior Deputy Commissioner must not make public, under subsection 31(1), the name of the person who committed the violation; and

    • (3) Subsection 19(2) of the Act is replaced by the following:

      • Maximum penalties

        (2) The maximum penalty for a violation is $1,000,000 in the case of a violation that is committed by a natural person, and $10,000,000 in the case of a violation that is committed by a financial institution, a payment card network operator or a participating entity.

• — 2024, c. 17, s. 215

  • 215 Sections 20.1 and 21 of the Act are replaced by the following:

    • Purpose of penalty

      20.1 The purpose of the penalty is not to punish but to promote compliance with the consumer provisions, compliance agreements that have been entered into under an Act listed in Schedule 1, any terms and conditions, undertakings or directions referred to in subparagraph 3(2)(a)(ii) or (4)(a)(ii), the provisions of the Payment Card Networks Act, the Consumer-Driven Banking Act or their regulations, and agreements entered into under section 7.1.

    • How act or omission may be proceeded with

      21 If a contravention or non-compliance that is designated under paragraph 19(1)(a), (a.1) or (a.3) can be proceeded with either as a violation or as an offence, proceeding in one manner precludes proceeding in the other.

• — 2024, c. 17, s. 216

  • 216 Section 22 of the Act is replaced by the following:

    • Commission of violation

      • 22 (1) Every contravention or non-compliance that is designated under paragraphs 19(1)(a) to (a.3) constitutes a violation and the person that commits the violation is liable to a penalty determined in accordance with sections 19 and 20.

      • Notice of violation — Commissioner

        (2) If the Commissioner believes on reasonable grounds that a person has committed a violation referred to in any of paragraphs 19(1)(a) to (a.2), they may issue and must cause to be served on the person a notice of violation.

      • Notice of violation — Senior Deputy Commissioner

        (2.1) If the Senior Deputy Commissioner believes on reasonable grounds that a person has committed a violation referred to in paragraph 19(1)(a.3), they may issue and must cause to be served on the person a notice of violation.

      • Contents of notice

        (3) A notice of violation must name the person believed to have committed a violation, identify the violation and set out

        • (a) the penalty that the Commissioner or Senior Deputy Commissioner, as the case may be, proposes to impose;

        • (b) the right of the person, within 30 days after the notice is served, or within any longer period that the Commissioner or Senior Deputy Commissioner, as the case may be, specifies, to pay the penalty or to make representations to the Commissioner or Senior Deputy Commissioner, as the case may be, with respect to the violation and the proposed penalty, and the manner for doing so; and

        • (c) the fact that, if the person does not pay the penalty or make representations in accordance with the notice, the person will be deemed to have committed the violation and the Commissioner or Senior Deputy Commissioner, as the case may be, may impose a penalty in respect of it.

• — 2024, c. 17, s. 217

  • 217 Subsections 23(2) to (4) of the Act are replaced by the following:

    • Representations to Commissioner

      (2) If the person makes representations in accordance with the notice, the Commissioner or Senior Deputy Commissioner, as the case may be, must decide, on a balance of probabilities, whether the person committed the violation and, if so, may, subject to any regulations made under paragraph 19(1)(b), impose the penalty set out in the notice, a lesser penalty or no penalty.

    • Failure to pay or make representations

      (3) A person who neither pays the penalty nor makes representations in accordance with the notice is deemed to have committed the violation and the Commissioner or Senior Deputy Commissioner, as the case may be, may, subject to any regulations made under paragraph 19(1)(b), impose the penalty proposed, a lesser penalty or no penalty.

    • Notice of decision and right of appeal

      (4) The Commissioner or Senior Deputy Commissioner, as the case may be, must cause notice of any decision made under subsection (2) or (3) to be issued and served on the person together with notice of the right of appeal under section 24.

• — 2024, c. 17, s. 218

  • • 218 (1) Subsection 24(1) of the French version of the Act is replaced by the following:

      • Droit d’appel

        • 24 (1) Il peut être interjeté appel à la Cour fédérale de la décision signifiée en conformité avec le paragraphe 23(4), et ce dans les trente jours suivant la signification de cette décision ou dans le délai supplémentaire que la Cour peut accorder.

    • (2) Subsection 24(2) of the Act is replaced by the following:

      • Court to take precautions against disclosing

        (2) In an appeal, the Court must take every reasonable precaution, including, when appropriate, conducting hearings in private, to avoid the disclosure by the Court or any person of confidential information referred to in subsection 17(1), (3) or (5).

    • (3) Subsection 24(3) of the English version of the Act is replaced by the following:

      • Powers of Court

        (3) On an appeal, the Court may confirm, set aside or, subject to any regulations made under paragraph 19(1)(b), vary the decision.

• — 2024, c. 17, s. 219

  • 219 Subsection 26(1) of the Act is replaced by the following:

    • Certificate of default

      • 26 (1) The unpaid amount of any debt referred to in subsection 25(1) may be certified by the Commissioner or Senior Deputy Commissioner, as the case may be.

• — 2024, c. 17, s. 220

  • 220 Section 28 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (3):

    • Common law principles — Consumer-Driven Banking Act

      (4) Every rule and principle of the common law that renders any circumstance a justification or excuse in relation to a charge for an offence in relation to a provision of the Consumer-Driven Banking Act applies in respect of a violation to the extent that it is not inconsistent with this Act.

• — 2024, c. 17, s. 221

  • 221 Sections 30 and 31 of the Act are replaced by the following:

    • Time limit

      • 30 (1) No proceedings in respect of a violation may be commenced later than two years after the subject-matter of the proceedings became known to the Commissioner or Senior Deputy Commissioner, as the case may be.

      • Certificate

        (2) A document appearing to have been issued by the Commissioner or Senior Deputy Commissioner, as the case may be, certifying the day on which the subject-matter of any proceedings became known to them, is admissible in evidence without proof of the signature or official character of the person appearing to have signed the document and is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, proof of the matter asserted in it.

    • Publication

      • 31 (1) Subject to any regulations, the Commissioner or Senior Deputy Commissioner, as the case may be, must make public the nature of a violation, the name of the person who committed it and the amount of the penalty imposed.

      • Publication — reasons

        (2) In making public the nature of a violation, the Commissioner or Senior Deputy Commissioner, as the case may be, may include the reasons for their decision, including the relevant facts, analysis and considerations that formed part of the decision.

• — 2024, c. 17, s. 224

  • 224 Section 34 of the Act is amended by striking out “and” at the end of paragraphs (a) and (b), by adding “and” at the end of paragraph (c) and by adding the following after paragraph (c):

    • (d) in aggregate form, its conclusions on the compliance, in that year, of participating entities, the external complaints body and the technical standards body with the provisions of the Consumer-Driven Banking Act.