Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (S.C. 1999, c. 33)

Assistance to Enforcement Officers and Analysts

Marginal note:Right of passage

226 While carrying out powers, duties or functions under this Act, enforcement officers and analysts, and any persons accompanying them, may enter on and pass through or over private property without being liable for doing so and without any person having the right to object to that use of the property.

Marginal note:Assistance

227 The owner or the person in charge of a place entered by an enforcement officer or analyst under section 218 or 220, and every person found in the place, shall

• (a) give the enforcement officer or analyst all reasonable assistance to enable them to carry out duties and functions under this Act; and

• (b) provide the enforcement officer or analyst with any information with respect to the administration of this Act and the regulations that the enforcement officer or analyst may reasonably require.

Marginal note:Obstruction

228 While an enforcement officer or analyst is exercising powers or carrying out duties and functions under this Act, no person shall

• (a) knowingly make any false or misleading statement, either orally or in writing, to them; or

• (b) otherwise obstruct or hinder them.

Liability for Costs

Marginal note:Liability for costs

228.1 If a thing is seized under this Act, the person who owned the thing at the time it was seized, the person who had charge or control of the thing immediately before it was seized and the person who possessed it immediately before it was seized are jointly and severally, or solidarily, liable for all the costs of seizure, detention, maintenance and forfeiture, including any destruction or disposal costs, incurred by Her Majesty in right of Canada in relation to the thing in excess of any proceeds of its disposition, if any.

Forfeiture

Marginal note:Forfeiture on consent

• 229 (1) Where an enforcement officer has seized a thing under section 220 or subsection 223(1) and the owner or person who was in lawful possession of it at the time of the seizure consents in writing at the request of the enforcement officer to its forfeiture, it is thereupon forfeited to Her Majesty in right of Canada.

• Marginal note:Disposal or destruction

  (2) The Minister may dispose of or destroy anything forfeited under subsection (1) and, if the Minister so directs, the costs of the disposal or destruction shall be paid by the owner or the person who was in lawful possession of it at the time it was seized.

Marginal note:Forfeiture by order of court

• 230 (1) Subject to sections 231 and 232, where a person is convicted of an offence under this Act and anything seized under section 220 or subsection 223(1) is then being detained,

  • (a) the thing is, on the conviction and in addition to any punishment imposed for the offence, forfeited to Her Majesty in right of Canada, if the court so directs, in which case

    • (i) the Minister may dispose of or destroy the thing, and

    • (ii) the costs of the forfeiture and disposal or destruction shall be paid by the offender; or

  • (b) the thing shall, on the expiry of the time for taking an appeal from the conviction or on the final conclusion of the proceedings, as the case may be, be restored to the person from whom it was seized or to any other person entitled to its possession on any conditions that may be imposed by order of the court and that, in the opinion of the court, are necessary to avoid the commission of a further offence under this Act.

• Marginal note:Things deemed not to have been seized

  (2) For the purpose of subsection (1), anything released from detention under paragraph 223(4)(a) or (b) is deemed not to have been seized under section 220 or subsection 223(1).

Marginal note:Court may order forfeiture

231 If the owner of any ship, aircraft, platform or other structure has been convicted of an offence under this Act, the convicting court may, if the ship, aircraft, platform or structure was seized under section 220 or subsection 223(1), in addition to any other penalty imposed, order that the ship, aircraft, platform or structure, or any security given under subsection 222(1), be forfeited, and on the making of such an order the ship, aircraft, platform, structure or security is forfeited to Her Majesty in right of Canada.

Marginal note:Disposal of forfeited ship, aircraft, etc.

• 232 (1) Where proceedings referred to in subsection 222(2) are instituted within the time provided in that subsection and, at the final conclusion of those proceedings, any ship, aircraft, platform or other structure or any security given under subsection 222(1) is ordered to be forfeited, it may be disposed of as the Governor in Council directs.

• Marginal note:Return of seized ship, etc., where no forfeiture ordered

  (2) Where anything has been seized under section 220 and proceedings referred to in subsection 222(2) are instituted, but the thing is not, at the final conclusion of the proceedings, ordered to be forfeited, it shall be returned, the proceeds of any sale of the cargo under subsection 221(3) shall be paid or any security given to the Minister under subsection 222(1) shall be returned to the person from whom the thing was seized.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) Where, at the conclusion of proceedings referred to in subsection (1), the person from whom the thing was seized is convicted of an offence arising out of a contravention of this Part, the thing and any cargo or the proceeds or security may be retained until the fine is paid or the thing and any cargo may be sold under execution in satisfaction of the fine, or the proceeds realized from the sale of the cargo or the security or any part thereof may be applied in payment of the fine.

Marginal note:Application by person claiming interest

• 233 (1) Where anything has been ordered to be forfeited under this Act, any person, other than a person who was a party to the proceedings that resulted in the order, who claims an interest in the thing as owner, mortgagee, lien holder or holder of any other claim under Canadian law may, within 30 days after the thing is ordered to be forfeited, apply by notice in writing to the Federal Court for an order under subsection (5).

• Marginal note:Date of hearing

  (2) The Federal Court shall fix a day for the hearing of an application made under subsection (1).

• Marginal note:Notice

  (3) An applicant for an order under subsection (5) shall, at least 30 days before the day fixed under subsection (2) for the hearing of the application, serve a notice of the application and of the hearing on the Minister and on all other persons claiming an interest in the thing that is the subject-matter of the application as owner, mortgagee, lien holder or holder of any other claim under Canadian law of whom the applicant has knowledge.

• Marginal note:Notice of intervention

  (4) Each person, other than the Minister, who is served with a notice under subsection (3) and who intends to appear at the hearing of the application to which the notice relates shall, at least 10 days before the day fixed for the hearing, file a notice of intervention in the Registry of the Federal Court and serve a copy of the notice on the Minister and on the applicant.

• Marginal note:Order declaring nature and extent of interests

  (5) Where, on the hearing of an application under this section, the Federal Court is satisfied that the applicant, or the intervenors, if any, or any of them,

  • (a) is innocent of any complicity in any conduct that caused the thing to be subject to forfeiture and of any collusion in relation to any such conduct, and

  • (b) exercised all reasonable care in respect of the persons permitted to obtain possession and use of the thing so as to be satisfied that it was not likely to be used contrary to the provisions of this Act or, in the case of a mortgagee or lien holder, other than the holder of a maritime lien or statutory right in rem, that the applicant or intervenor exercised such care with respect to the mortgagor or the lien giver,

  those of the applicant and the intervenors in respect of whom the Court is so satisfied are entitled to an order declaring that their interests are not affected by the forfeiture and declaring the nature and extent of each of their interests and the priorities among them.

• Marginal note:Additional order

  (6) Where an order is made under subsection (5), the Court may, in addition, order that the thing to which the interests relate be delivered to one or more of the persons found to have an interest in it or that an amount equal to the value of each of the interests so declared be paid to the persons found to have those interests.

Environmental Protection Compliance Orders

Definition of order

234 For the purposes of sections 235 to 271, order means an environmental protection compliance order issued under section 235.

Marginal note:Order

• 235 (1) Whenever, during the course of an inspection or a search, an enforcement officer has reasonable grounds to believe that any provision of this Act or the regulations has been contravened in the circumstances described in subsection (2) by a person who is continuing the commission of the offence, or that any of those provisions are likely to be contravened in the circumstances described in that subsection, the enforcement officer may issue an environmental protection compliance order directing any person described in subsection (3) to take any of the measures referred to in subsection (4) and, if applicable, subsection (5) that are reasonable in the circumstances and consistent with the protection of the environment and public safety, in order to cease or refrain from committing the alleged contravention.

• Marginal note:Circumstances

  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the circumstances in which the alleged contravention has been or will be committed are as follows, namely,

  • (a) the exportation, importation, manufacture, transportation, processing or distribution of a substance, a product that contains a substance or a product that may release a substance into the environment;

  • (b) the possession, storage, use, sale, offering for sale, advertisement or disposal of a substance, a product that contains a substance or a product that may release a substance into the environment;

  • (c) the use, in a commercial manufacturing or processing activity, of a substance, a product that contains a substance or a product that may release a substance into the environment; or

  • (d) an act or omission in relation to or in the absence of a notice, permit, approval, licence, certificate, allowance or other authorization or a term or condition thereof.

• Marginal note:Application

  (3) Subsection (1) applies to any person who

  • (a) owns or has the charge, management or control of

    • (i) the substance — or any product that contains the substance or that may release the substance into the environment — to which the alleged contravention relates, or

    • (ii) the property on which the substance or product is located;

  • (b) causes or contributes to the alleged contravention; or

  • (c) any person who is likely to cause or contribute to the alleged contravention.

• Marginal note:Specific measures

  (4) For the purposes of subsection (1), an order in relation to an alleged contravention of any provision of this Act or the regulations may specify that the person to whom the order is directed take one or more of the following measures:

  • (a) refrain from doing anything in contravention of this Act or the regulations, or do anything to comply with this Act or the regulations;

  • (b) stop or shut down any activity, work, undertaking or thing for a specified period;

  • (c) cease the operation of any activity or any part of a work, undertaking or thing until the enforcement officer is satisfied that the activity, work, undertaking or thing will be operated in accordance with this Act and the regulations;

  • (d) move any conveyance to another location including, in the case of a ship, move the ship into port or, in the case of an aircraft, land the aircraft;

  • (e) unload or re-load the contents of any conveyance; and

  • (f) take any other measure that the enforcement officer considers necessary to facilitate compliance with the order — or to restore the components of the environment damaged by the alleged contravention or to protect the components of the environment put at risk by the alleged contravention — including

    • (i) maintaining records on any relevant matter,

    • (ii) reporting periodically to the enforcement officer, and

    • (iii) submitting to the enforcement officer any information, proposal or plan specified by the enforcement officer setting out any action to be taken by the person with respect to the subject-matter of the order.

• Marginal note:Additional measures for certain alleged offences

  (5) For the purposes of subsection (1), an order in relation to an alleged contravention of section 124 or 125 or any regulations made under section 135 may specify that the person to whom the order is directed, whether that person is not a permit holder or is contravening a condition of a permit, take any of the following measures, in addition to any of the measures referred to in subsection (4):

  • (a) cease dumping or cease loading a substance; or

  • (b) refrain from disposing of any ship, aircraft, platform or structure.

• Marginal note:Contents of order

  (6) Subject to section 236, an order must be made in writing and must set out

  • (a) the names of the persons to whom the order is directed;

  • (b) the provision of this Act or the regulations that is alleged to have been or that is likely to be contravened;

  • (c) the relevant facts surrounding the alleged contravention;

  • (d) the measures to be taken;

  • (e) the time or the day when each measure is to begin or the period during which it is to be carried out;

  • (f) subject to subsection (7), the duration of the order;

  • (g) a statement that a request for a review may be made to the Chief Review Officer; and

  • (h) the period within which a request for a review may be made.

• Marginal note:Duration of order

  (7) An order may not be in force for a period of more than 180 days.

• Marginal note:Failing to file report

  (8) For the purposes of subsection (1), a person who commits an offence by failing to file a report required by this Act or the regulations is deemed to be continuing the commission of the offence each day that the report is not filed.

• Marginal note:Statutory Instruments Act

  (9) An order is not a statutory instrument for the purposes of the Statutory Instruments Act.