Criminal Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46)

Marginal note:Likeness of bank-notes

• 457 (1) No person shall make, publish, print, execute, issue, distribute or circulate, including by electronic or computer-assisted means, anything in the likeness of

  • (a) a current bank-note; or

  • (b) an obligation or a security of a government or bank.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to

  • (a) the Bank of Canada or its employees when they are carrying out their duties;

  • (b) the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or its members or employees when they are carrying out their duties; or

  • (c) any person acting under a contract or licence from the Bank of Canada or Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

• Marginal note:Offence

  (3) A person who contravenes subsection (1) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

• Marginal note:Defence

  (4) No person shall be convicted of an offence under subsection (3) in relation to the printed likeness of a Canadian bank-note if it is established that the length or width of the likeness is less than three-fourths or greater than one-and-one-half times the length or width, as the case may be, of the bank-note and

  • (a) the likeness is in black-and-white only; or

  • (b) the likeness of the bank-note appears on only one side of the likeness.