Canada Shipping Act, 2001 (S.C. 2001, c. 26)

Marginal note:Services provided by third parties

• 36.1 (1) Unless otherwise provided in the regulations, any person or organization that provides, in the exercise of powers or the performance of duties under this Act in accordance with an agreement or arrangement entered into by the Minister of Transport under paragraph 10(1)(c), any of the following services may, if that person or organization is not part of the federal public administration, set the fees to be paid to it for those services:

  • (a) services related to a Canadian maritime document;

  • (b) services related to any approvals or certifications;

  • (c) the conduct or witnessing of tests; and

  • (d) services specified in the regulations.

• Marginal note:Not public money

  (2) Unless otherwise provided in the regulations, the fees referred to in subsection (1) are not public money within the meaning of the Financial Administration Act and the Service Fees Act does not apply in respect of them.

• Marginal note:Non-application of certain regulations

  (3) Unless otherwise provided in the regulations, the regulations made under paragraph 35(1)(g) do not apply in respect of any service referred to in any of paragraphs (1)(a) to (d) that is provided by any person or organization that is not part of the federal public administration in the exercise of powers or the performance of duties under this Act in accordance with an agreement or arrangement entered into by the Minister of Transport under paragraph 10(1)(c).

Offences and Punishment

Marginal note:Contravention of section 23

37 Every person who contravenes section 23 (destruction of documents, fraud, obstruction, false or misleading information or statement, movement of detained vessel) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than $1,000,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than 18 months, or to both.

Marginal note:Contravention of regulations made under paragraph 35(1)(d) or (3)(a)

• 38 (1) Every person who, or vessel or oil handling facility that, contravenes a provision of the regulations made under paragraph 35(1)(d) or (3)(a) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than $1,000,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than 18 months, or to both.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) If a court sentencing a person, vessel or oil handling facility under subsection (1) for contravening a provision of the regulations made under paragraph 35(1)(d) or (3)(a) is of the opinion that the provision that the person, vessel or facility contravened is equivalent to a provision of the regulations made under another provision of this Act and if the punishment provided under this Act for contravening that provision of the regulations is less than the punishment provided under subsection (1), the person, vessel or oil handling facility is liable to that lesser punishment.

Marginal note:Contravention of Act

• 39 (1) Every person commits an offence who contravenes

  • (a) subsection 17(2) (improper possession of a Canadian maritime document); or

  • (b) subsection 28(7) (inform Chair without delay).

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (2) Every person who commits an offence under subsection (1) is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than $100,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than one year, or to both.

Marginal note:Contravention of Act or regulations

• 40 (1) Every person who, or vessel that, contravenes any of the following commits an offence:

  • (a) subsection 16(3) (cheating on an exam);

  • (b) section 18 (failure to produce Canadian maritime document);

  • (c) subsection 20(2) (failure to return suspended or cancelled Canadian maritime document); and

  • (d) a provision of the regulations made under paragraph 35(1)(e) or (3)(b).

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (2) Every person who, or vessel that, commits an offence under subsection (1) is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than $25,000.

Marginal note:Contravention of interim order or regulations

• 40.1 (1) Every person who, or vessel that, contravenes any of the following commits an offence:

  • (a) subsection 10.1(4) (compliance with interim order); or

  • (b) a provision of a regulation made under subsection 35.1(1).

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (2) Every person who, or vessel that, commits an offence under subsection (1) is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than $1,000,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than 18 months, or to both.

PART 2Registration, Listing and Recording

Interpretation

Definition of Minister

41 In this Part, Minister means the Minister of Transport.

Canadian Register of Vessels and Registrars

Marginal note:Appointment of Chief Registrar

42 An officer, to be known as the Chief Registrar, is to be appointed or deployed under the Public Service Employment Act.

Marginal note:Duties and powers of Chief Registrar

• 43 (1) The Chief Registrar is responsible for establishing and maintaining a register to be known as the Canadian Register of Vessels. The Chief Registrar is to divide the Register into parts, including a small vessel register, for the classes of vessels that the Chief Registrar specifies.

• Marginal note:Records

  (2) The Register is to contain records of the information and documents specified by the Chief Registrar in respect of a Canadian vessel or a fleet that is registered under this Part, including its description, its official number, the name and address of its owner and, in the case of a vessel that is not registered in the small vessel register, details of all mortgages registered in respect of it.

Marginal note:Registrars

• 44 (1) The Chief Registrar may appoint the registrars that the Chief Registrar considers necessary.

• Marginal note:Duties of registrars

  (2) A registrar is to perform the duties and fulfil the responsibilities that the Chief Registrar assigns to the registrar.

Marginal note:Immunity

45 The Chief Registrar and the registrars are not personally liable for anything they do or omit to do in good faith under this Act.

Registration, Listing and Recording

Marginal note:Mandatory registration of vessels

• 46 (1) Unless it is exempted under the regulations, a vessel must be registered under this Part if it

  • (a) is not a pleasure craft;

  • (b) is wholly owned by qualified persons; and

  • (c) is not registered, listed or otherwise recorded in a foreign state.

• Marginal note:Owner’s obligation

  (2) Every owner of a vessel that is required by subsection (1) to be registered under this Part shall ensure that it is so registered.

• Marginal note:Mandatory registration — government vessels

  (3) Every government vessel must be registered under this Part.

Marginal note:Optional registration

47 Unless they are registered, listed or otherwise recorded in a foreign state, the following vessels may be registered under this Part:

• (a) a pleasure craft that is wholly owned by qualified persons;

• (a.1) a vessel that is exempted under the regulations from the registration requirement in subsection 46(1) and that is wholly owned by qualified persons;

• (b) a vessel that is owned by a corporation incorporated under the laws of a foreign state if one of the following is acting with respect to all matters relating to the vessel, namely,

  • (i) a subsidiary of the corporation incorporated under the laws of Canada or a province,

  • (ii) an employee or a director in Canada of a branch office of the corporation that is carrying on business in Canada, or

  • (iii) a ship management company incorporated under the laws of Canada or a province; and

• (c) a vessel that is in the exclusive possession of a qualified person under a financing agreement under which the person will acquire ownership on completion of the agreement.

Marginal note:Bare-boat chartered vessels

48 A vessel that is registered in a foreign state and that is bare-boat chartered exclusively to a qualified person may be listed under this Part as a bare-boat chartered vessel for the duration of the charter if, for the duration of the charter, the registration is suspended in respect of the right to fly the flag of that state.

Marginal note:Vessels under construction

49 A vessel that is about to be built or that is under construction in Canada may be temporarily recorded in the Register as a vessel being built in Canada.

Marginal note:Vessels built outside Canada

50 Notwithstanding sections 46 to 48, the Minister may direct the Chief Registrar to refuse to register or list a vessel built outside Canada.

Application

Marginal note:Application

• 51 (1) An application for the registration, listing or recording of a vessel must be made in the form and manner, include the information and be accompanied by the documents specified by the Chief Registrar.

• Marginal note:Further evidence

  (2) In addition to the specified information and documents, the Chief Registrar may require an applicant to provide evidence, including declarations, that the Chief Registrar considers necessary to establish that a vessel is required or entitled to be registered or is entitled to be listed or recorded.

Names of Vessels

Marginal note:Before registration or listing

• 52 (1) Every vessel, other than one to be registered in the small vessel register, must be named in the form and manner specified by the Chief Registrar before it is registered or listed.

• Marginal note:Approval of names

  (2) The Chief Registrar may, on application, approve the name of a vessel before it is registered or listed and approve a change in the name of a Canadian vessel.

• Marginal note:Disallowance of names

  (3) The Chief Registrar must disallow a name if

  • (a) it is the same as the name of a Canadian vessel;

  • (b) it is likely, in the opinion of the Chief Registrar, to be confused with the name of a Canadian vessel or with a distress signal;

  • (c) it is likely, in the opinion of the Chief Registrar, to be offensive to members of the public; or

  • (d) its use is prohibited under an Act of Parliament.

• Marginal note:Requiring renaming

  (4) The Minister may order that a Canadian vessel be renamed if the Minister considers that its name would prejudice the international reputation of Canada.

Ownership of Vessels

Marginal note:Shares

• 53 (1) For the purposes of registration, the property in a vessel is divided into 64 shares.

• Marginal note:Registered owners

  (2) Subject to subsections (3) and (4), only owners or joint owners of a vessel or of one or more shares in a vessel may be registered in the Register as owners of the vessel or shares, as the case may be.

• Marginal note:Registered owners — financing agreements

  (3) In the case of a vessel described in paragraph 47(c) (a vessel subject to a financing agreement), the persons referred to in that paragraph are to be registered in the Register as the owners of the vessel.

• Marginal note:Bare-boat charterers

  (4) In the case of a vessel described in section 48 (a bare-boat chartered vessel), no person may be registered in the Register as an owner of the vessel.

• Marginal note:Registration of joint owners

  (5) No more than five persons may be registered in the Register as joint owners of a vessel or a share in a vessel.

• Marginal note:Disposition of registered joint interests

  (6) A registered jointly owned interest in a vessel or a share in a vessel may be disposed of only by the joint owners acting together.

• Marginal note:Registration of fractions prohibited

  (7) No person may be registered as the owner of a fractional part of a share in a vessel.

• Marginal note:No effect on beneficial owners

  (8) This section does not affect the beneficial interests of a person represented by or claiming through an owner of a vessel or a share in a vessel.

• Marginal note:Trusts not recognized

  (9) No notice of a trust may be entered in the Register.