Motor Vehicle Safety Act

Marginal note:Exceptions for certain importations

• 7 (1) Sections 5 and 6 do not apply in respect of the importation of a vehicle or equipment if

  • (a) the person importing the vehicle or equipment makes a declaration in the prescribed form and manner that the vehicle or equipment will be used in Canada solely for purposes of exhibition, demonstration, evaluation or testing and will remain in Canada for not longer than one year or such other period as the Minister specifies in relation to the vehicle or equipment; or

  • (b) the vehicle or equipment is being imported exclusively for use by a visitor to Canada or by a person passing through Canada to another country.

• Marginal note:Exception — temporary importation

  (1.1) Sections 5 and 6 do not apply to a resident of Canada who imports a vehicle that is licensed in the United States if the vehicle is rented in the United States from a vehicle rental business and is being imported into Canada for non-commercial purposes.

• Marginal note:Importer to remove vehicle from Canada

  (1.2) A resident of Canada who imports a vehicle under subsection (1.1) shall remove the vehicle from Canada within a period of 30 days, or any other prescribed period, beginning on the day on which the vehicle is imported.

• Marginal note:Rental business to remove vehicle from Canada

  (1.3) If, within the period referred to in subsection (1.2), the resident of Canada delivers the vehicle to a vehicle rental business in Canada with the consent of the business, then the vehicle rental business shall remove the vehicle from Canada before the end of that period.

• Marginal note:Subsection (1.2) does not apply

  (1.4) For greater certainty, if a vehicle rental business is required under subsection (1.3) to remove the vehicle from Canada, subsection (1.2) does not apply to the resident of Canada.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (1.5) The Governor in Council may make regulations

  • (a) respecting vehicles imported under subsection (1.1);

  • (b) respecting the importation or removal of vehicles under subsections (1.1) to (1.4); and

  • (c) defining, for the purposes of those subsections, any term used in them.

• Marginal note:Vehicles purchased in United States

  (2) Except as otherwise provided by the regulations, a vehicle that has been sold at the retail level in the United States and that fails to satisfy an applicable requirement of section 5 or 6 may be imported into Canada notwithstanding that section if the person importing the vehicle makes a declaration in the prescribed form and manner that, before the vehicle is presented for registration under the laws of a province, the vehicle

  • (a) will be made to conform to that requirement; and

  • (b) will be certified in the prescribed form and manner to so conform by such person as may be designated by the regulations.

• Marginal note:Change in standard since manufacture

  (3) A vehicle that does not conform to a standard prescribed for vehicles of its class at the time of its main assembly may be imported notwithstanding section 5 or 6 if, at the time of its importation, the standard is no longer in effect and

  • (a) the vehicle conforms to the corresponding standard prescribed for vehicles of its class at that time; or

  • (b) there is no corresponding standard at that time.

• Marginal note:Imported vehicles

  (4) A vehicle that is imported into Canada must conform to the standard prescribed for the class of equivalent non-imported vehicle, or made to conform to this standard prior to the presentation for registration under the laws of a province.

• Marginal note:Declarations binding

  (5) No person who makes a declaration referred to in paragraph (1)(a) or subsection (2) in respect of a vehicle or equipment shall use or dispose of the vehicle or equipment in a manner contrary to the terms of that declaration.