Canada Shipping Act, 2001

Marginal note:Immunity — taking or refraining from taking measures

• 181 (1) A person who, or vessel that, is directed to take or refrain from taking measures under paragraph 180(1)(c) is not personally liable, either civilly or criminally, for anything they do or omit to do in the course of complying with the direction, unless it is established that the act or omission was not reasonable in the circumstances.

• Marginal note:Immunity — providing assistance

  (1.1) A person who provides assistance or advice in taking or refraining from taking any measure under section 180 is not personally liable, either civilly or criminally, for anything that they do or omit to do in the course of providing the assistance or advice, unless it is established that the act or omission was not reasonable in the circumstances.

• Marginal note:Immunity — accompanying Minister or officer

  (1.2) A person who accompanies the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans or a pollution response officer under subsection 180.1(2) or (3) is not personally liable, either civilly or criminally, for anything that they do or omit to do in the exercise of their powers under that subsection in accompanying the Minister or officer, unless it is established that the act or omission was not reasonable in the circumstances.

• Marginal note:Civil or criminal liability

  (2) Response organizations, their agents or mandataries, and persons who have been designated in writing by the Minister as approved responders, are not personally liable, either civilly or criminally, in respect of any act or omission occurring or arising during the course of a response operation unless it is shown that the act or omission was committed with the intent to cause loss or damage, or recklessly and with the knowledge that loss or damage would probably result.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) Nothing in subsection (1) affects the liability of the owner of a vessel, or of the vessel, that had discharged, was discharging or may have discharged a pollutant in respect of

  • (a) the occurrence that resulted in the taking of the measures referred to in subsection 180(1); and

  • (b) any act or omission in the course of complying with a direction given under paragraph 180(1)(c).

• Marginal note:Definition of response operation

  (4) In this section, response operation means the activities undertaken following a discharge, or a grave and imminent threat of a discharge, from a vessel or an oil handling facility, including activities related to or connected with surveillance of and assessing areas of pollution, mobilizing and demobilizing response equipment and resources, protective booming, containment, recovery, dispersal or destruction of the pollutant, shoreline mitigation and restoration, transporting and disposing of recovered pollutant or waste materials and planning and supervising activities related to the response operation.