Excise Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. E-14)

Marginal note:List of apparatus to be furnished to collector

11 Every person who imports, makes, has in his possession or keeps any still, worm, mash-tub, fermenting-tun, distilling, rectifying or brewing apparatus, tobacco press or mill for cutting or grinding tobacco shall, forthwith, after the apparatus or machinery comes into his possession and in each subsequent year on or before April 10, give to the collector of the division in which the apparatus or machinery is located a full and particular list, description and return thereof, the same in nature and form as is required by this Act in an application for a licence to use similar apparatus or machinery.

Marginal note:Term of licence

12 Each licence issued pursuant to this Act expires on March 31 next following the date of its issue, but, unless the licence is suspended, cancelled or revoked, it shall be deemed to be reissued from year to year on each successive April 1 on payment, on or before March 31 in each year, of the fee prescribed by the regulations for the issue of the licence.

Marginal note:Application for licence

13 Every person who requires a licence under this Act shall make application therefor in writing over the person’s signature to the collector, or any other officer designated by the Minister, within whose district or excise division the business for which the licence is required is to be carried on, and every application shall be made in the form prescribed by the Minister.

Marginal note:What application must show

• 14 (1) Every application for a licence under this Act shall state the exact locality in the city, town, village, township or local municipality, as the case may be, where the premises are situated, in which the business for which the licence is required is to be carried on, and shall also contain or have annexed thereto a full and particular written description in triplicate, with such models, diagrams or drawings, also in triplicate, as may be required by ministerial regulations.

• Marginal note:Where licence to apply

  (2) No licence shall authorize a person to carry on any business subject to excise in any place other than the premises mentioned in the application for the licence, but on application being made, in the form prescribed by the Minister, by the holder of any licence under this Act, the licence so held may be transferred from any premises to any other premises situated within the same excise division, without payment of additional licence fee, if all the requirements of this Act have been complied with by the holder of the licence with reference to the premises to which it is proposed to transfer it and all obligations imposed by the licence have been fulfilled.

• Marginal note:New bond

  (3) Whenever any transfer of a licence is made pursuant to subsection (2), a new bond shall be taken as is required on the issue of a new licence.

Marginal note:Name of surety

15 Every application for a licence under this Act shall state the name of the guarantee company proposed by the applicant therefor as his surety, in accordance with the requirements of this Act, and it shall also state, in the case of a tobacco manufactory, the maximum quantity of manufactured tobacco, and, in the case of a cigar manufactory, the maximum number of cigars intended to be produced in each month.

Marginal note:List and description of apparatus

16 Every application for a licence for distilling or brewing shall contain, in addition to the information required by sections 14 and 15, a list and description in triplicate of all utensils, stills, worms, boilers, mash-tubs, fermenting-tuns, coolers, closed spirit-receivers or other vessels or machinery that are intended to be placed on the premises or that are on the premises at the time of application, specifying distinctly and clearly

• (a) the dimensions and capacity of every still, mash-tub, fermenting-tun, cooler, closed spirit-receiver and every other utensil, in centimetres and litres, the purpose to which each is to be applied and the locality or position in the premises in which it is, or is to be, placed or used; and

• (b) a description of every pipe, conduit, trough, hose, valve, pump, cock and of every means of connection or communication between the several vessels or utensils used in or about the distillery or brewery, with a description and drawing or model showing the exact position of every cock, valve, connection and joint.

Marginal note:Premises to be surveyed by officer

• 17 (1) No licence shall be granted for carrying on any business subject to excise until after a survey has been made by the collector, or an officer instructed for the purpose by him, of the buildings or places in which the business is to be carried on or until the collector or other officer has certified in writing that the application, descriptions, models, diagrams and drawings correctly represent the premises, and that all the provisions of this Act and of every order in council or ministerial regulation made in virtue thereof have been complied with respecting the place or premises.

• Marginal note:No licence if premises unsatisfactory

  (2) No licence shall be granted for carrying on any business subject to excise in a building or premises that, after careful survey, appear to the Minister to be so situated with reference to surrounding buildings or places of business, or to be so constructed or arranged, as to embarrass or endanger the full collection of the revenue.

• (3) [Repealed, R.S., 1985, c. 15 (1st Supp.), s. 47]

Marginal note:Term of bond

18 Every bond entered into under this Act remains in force so long as any duty on any articles or commodities subject to excise, or on any licence to which the bond relates, or any penalty, remains unpaid by the person to whom the licence was granted.

Marginal note:New bond

• 19 (1) Whenever any new licence is granted to any person, a new bond shall be entered into with reference to the new licence.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) A new bond shall be given, whenever, during the period for which any licence is in force to which the bond first given relates, the guarantee company is wound up, becomes insolvent or ceases to do business in Canada, and the licence is void from the time the person to whom it was granted is required by the collector or superior officer to enter into a new bond until the time when the new bond is given, during which time the person neglecting to enter into the new bond shall be held to be without a licence.

Marginal note:Application for licence

• 20 (1) Every application for a licence under this Act shall be forwarded by the collector to the district inspector and by the district inspector to the Minister with such information as is required by any ministerial regulation.

• Marginal note:Licence issued

  (2) As soon as an application referred to in subsection (1) is returned to the collector, endorsed with the approval of the district inspector and authorized by the Minister, and on the due execution of the bond with surety as herein required, the collector shall issue a licence to carry on the business and to use the utensils, machinery and apparatus specified in the application, and in the place and premises therein specified, and in such place or premises only, and shall immediately report the issue of the licence to the Minister.

Marginal note:Forfeiture of licence

• 21 (1) The Minister may declare forfeited any licence authorized by this Act in any case where a person who, being a manufacturer of any class of goods subject to a duty of excise, either directly or indirectly,

  • (a) makes a sale of any of those goods, or consigns them for sale on commission, to another person, subject to the condition that the purchaser or consignee shall not sell or deal in goods of a like kind produced by, or obtained or to be obtained from, any other manufacturer or dealer; or

  • (b) makes a sale of any of those goods, or consigns them for sale on commission, to another person, on such terms as would, in their application, give more profit to the purchaser or consignee if he should not sell or deal in goods of a like kind produced by, or obtained or to be obtained from, any other manufacturer or dealer.

• Marginal note:Notice in Canada Gazette

  (2) The collector shall, on the forfeiture of a licence under subsection (1), cause a notice of the forfeiture to be forthwith inserted in the Canada Gazette, and from and after the insertion thereof the licence is void.

• Marginal note:Condition for granting new licence

  (3) No new licence shall be granted to a person whose licence has been forfeited under subsection (1), and no licence shall be granted to any other person for carrying on any business in the premises occupied by the former licence holder until the Minister is satisfied that the dealings referred to in this section have ceased.

• Marginal note:Decision of Minister final

  (4) The decision of the Minister is final as to whether any sale or consignment of goods is, or is not, subject to any conditions or on any terms that are mentioned in this section.

Marginal note:Proof of licence

22 The burden of proof that any licence required by this Act has been issued lies on the person to whom the licence is alleged to have been issued.

Marginal note:Posting up

23 Every person licensed under this Act shall keep his licence posted up in a conspicuous place in his manufactory.

Marginal note:Payment of licence fees

24 All licence fees are due and payable at the time the licence is granted, and in no case shall a licence be issued until all fees are paid.

Obligations of Licensees

Marginal note:Assistance to inspecting officer

25 Every person licensed under this Act shall, at all times when required, supply any officer with all assistance, lights, ladders, tools, staging or other thing necessary for inspecting the premises, stock, tools or apparatus belonging to the licensed person, or for weighing, gauging or testing any article or commodity then on the premises for which the licence is granted, and shall open all doors, and open for examination all boxes, packages, casks, barrels and other vessels, when required to do so by any officer of excise.

Marginal note:Notice of any alterations or additions to apparatus

26 Where any person holding a licence under this Act intends to make any alteration or addition to the premises, utensils, machinery or apparatus described in this Act, to remove any portion of those utensils, machinery or apparatus or to make any use of any compartment or room for a purpose different from that mentioned in the written description accompanying his application for licence, notice in writing shall be served on the collector of the intention to make those alterations, additions, removals or changes at least one week before they are commenced, and every notice shall set out fully and correctly the particulars of the proposed alterations, additions, removals or changes, and on completion of the work, that person shall furnish the collector with supplementary plans and descriptions, which the collector shall forward to the district inspector.

Marginal note:Minister may require new list, etc., of apparatus

27 The Minister may, for sufficient cause, of which sufficiency he is the sole judge, at any time after having given ten days notice, require a new list and description, with such models, diagrams or drawings as are required by this Act in an application for a licence, to be made out and furnished by any person holding a licence under this Act.

Marginal note:Inspection of weights and measures

28 All beams, scales, weights and measures used in or about any premises subject to excise shall be inspected, tested and verified by an inspector of weights and measures as often as any inspector directs, except that scales used in a tobacco or cigar manufactory, when used exclusively for weighing tobacco during any intermediate process of manufacture and not used for weighing raw material brought into the manufactory or taken for use therein, or in ascertaining the manufactured products of the manufactory, may be used without inspection.

Marginal note:Night work

• 29 (1) Except under authority of the collector and in the presence of an officer of excise,

  • (a) no act, operation or process, for the supervision of which the presence of an officer is required by a ministerial regulation, shall be done or carried on in any premises licensed under this Act, and

  • (b) no goods subject to excise shall be removed from any premises licensed under this Act,

  between the hours of five o’clock in the afternoon and eight o’clock the following morning.

• Marginal note:Extra time of officers to be paid for

  (2) Whenever any business, act, operation or process, for the supervision of which the presence of an officer is required by any regulation then in force, is carried on or done in any premises licensed under this Act before eight o’clock in the forenoon, during the dinner hour or after five o’clock in the afternoon, or on a holiday at any hour, the person in whose premises the business, act, operation or process is carried on or done shall pay the collector for the attendance of the officer or officers during the extra time they are so employed, at such rate as is determined by ministerial regulations.

Marginal note:Inscription over premises

• 30 (1) There shall be conspicuously placed over the chief entrance to every place or premises subject to excise the name of the person by whom, or the name and style of the firm or corporation by which, the place or premises are occupied.

• Marginal note:Marking of utensils

  (2) Every mash-tub, fermenting-tun, closed spirit-receiver, cooler, tank, vat or other vessel that is used to do anything for which a licence is required by this Act, or that is used for containing any commodity subject to excise, shall have written, stamped or printed on it in white Roman characters, at least fifty millimetres (50 mm) in height, on a black ground, the serial number and the capacity thereof in litres.

• Marginal note:Under direction of officer

  (3) Every notice or written or printed designation or name of any person, place or thing required by this section shall be printed, painted, put up or affixed under and according to the direction of an officer and at the expense of the person on whose behalf it is done.

Books, Accounts and Papers

Marginal note:Keeping of books

31 Every person who carries on a business subject to excise shall

• (a) keep, within the licensed premises in which that business is carried on by him, stock books and other books in a form and manner prescribed by ministerial regulations and retain those books until the expiration of six years from the end of the calendar year in respect of which they are kept or until written permission for their prior disposal is given by the Minister; and

• (b) clearly record in the books referred to in paragraph (a), day by day and on the same day on which the circumstance, thing or act to be recorded is done or occurs, such particulars as are required by any ministerial regulation in that behalf.