Energy Efficiency Act (S.C. 1992, c. 36)

Marginal note:Exception for proceedings under this Act

• 24 (1) Subsections 23(2) and (3) do not apply in respect of proceedings relating to the administration or enforcement of this Act or the regulations.

• Marginal note:Exception for authorized persons

  (2) An authorized person may communicate or allow to be communicated privileged information, or allow inspection of or access to any report, statement or other document containing any privileged information, to or by

  • (a) any person engaged or employed by or on behalf of Her Majesty in right of Canada for any purpose relating to the administration or enforcement of this Act;

  • (b) the Chief Statistician of Canada for the purposes of the Statistics Act; or

  • (c) any person, with the consent of the person who filed the information.

• Marginal note:Exception for compilations

  (3) Compilations of privileged information may be published in any manner that does not identify or permit the identification of any person who filed the information, unless that person consents in writing to being identified.

PART IIIGeneral

Regulations

Marginal note:General regulations

25 The Governor in Council may make regulations

• (a) exempting any person, energy-using product or transaction, or any class thereof, from the application of any or all of the provisions of this Act or the regulations;

• (b) prescribing anything that by this Act is to be prescribed; and

• (c) generally for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act.

26 [Repealed, 2017, c. 33, s. 222]

Offences and Punishment

Marginal note:Offence and punishment

• 27 (1) Every person who contravenes subsection 4(1)

  • (a) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand dollars; or

  • (b) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred thousand dollars.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) Every person who contravenes subsection 4(2), section 5, subsection 6(1), section 7 or 8, subsection 11(3), section 12 or subsection 23(2) or any regulation made under this Act is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (3) Every person who, in purported compliance with this Act or the regulations, submits any report, statistic, information, document or record, makes any statement or answers any question knowing that the report, statistic, information, document, record, statement or answer is false or misleading, or misrepresents or fails to disclose a material fact, is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (4) Every person who contravenes any provision of this Act or the regulations, other than a provision referred to in subsection (1) or (2), is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars.

Marginal note:Continuing offences

28 Where an offence under section 27 is committed on more than one day or is continued for more than one day, it shall be deemed to be a separate offence for each day on which the offence is committed or continued.

Marginal note:Officers, etc., of corporations

29 Where a corporation commits an offence under section 27, any officer, director or agent of the corporation who directed, authorized, assented to, acquiesced in or participated in the commission of the offence is a party to and guilty of the offence and is liable on conviction to the punishment provided for the offence, whether or not the corporation has been prosecuted or convicted.

Marginal note:Defence

30 In a prosecution for a contravention of subsection 4(1) by a dealer engaged in the business of assembling or altering energy-using products, it is a defence for the dealer if the contravention occurred as a result of work done previously on an energy-using product by another dealer engaged in the manufacture of the energy-using products.

Marginal note:Limitation period

31 A prosecution by way of summary conviction under this Act may not be instituted later than two years after the time when the subject-matter of the prosecution arose.

Marginal note:Venue

32 A prosecution under this Act may be instituted, tried and determined by a court in any territorial jurisdiction in which the accused is resident or carries on business regardless of where the subject-matter of the prosecution arose.

Marginal note:Court order

• 33 (1) Where a person is convicted of an offence under section 27, in addition to any other punishment that may be imposed, the court may, having regard to the nature of the offence and the circumstances surrounding its commission, make an order to any or all of the following effects:

  • (a) prohibiting the person from doing any act or engaging in any activity that may result in the continuation or repetition of the offence;

  • (b) directing the person to publish, in any manner the court considers appropriate, the facts relating to the commission of the offence;

  • (c) directing the person to compensate the Minister, in whole or in part, for the cost of examining and testing any energy-using product in respect of which the offence was committed;

  • (d) directing the person to submit to the Minister, on application by the Minister within three years after the date of the conviction, such information respecting the activities of that person as the court considers appropriate in the circumstances;

  • (e) directing the person to post such bond, or pay into court such amount of money, as the court considers appropriate for ensuring compliance with any order made under this subsection; and

  • (f) requiring the person to comply with such other reasonable conditions as the court considers appropriate for securing the person’s good conduct and preventing the person from repeating the offence or committing other offences under this Act.

• Marginal note:Duration of order

  (2) An order under subsection (1) comes into force on the day on which it is made or on such other day as the court may fix and continues in force for such period, not exceeding three years, as the court may fix.

• Marginal note:Publication

  (3) Where a person fails to comply with an order made under paragraph (1)(b), the Minister may publish the facts and recover the costs of publication from that person.

• Marginal note:Debt due to Her Majesty

  (4) The costs referred to in paragraph (1)(c) and subsection (3) constitute a debt due to Her Majesty in right of Canada and may be recovered as such in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Marginal note:Variation of order

• 34 (1) A court that has made an order under section 33 may, on application by the Attorney General of Canada or the person to whom the order applies, require that person to appear before it and may, after hearing that person and the Attorney General, make an order varying the original order in any manner the court considers appropriate, including an order

  • (a) extending the period for which the original order is to remain in force for a period not exceeding one year;

  • (b) decreasing the period for which the original order is to remain in force; or

  • (c) relieving that person, either absolutely or conditionally or for such period as the court considers appropriate, from compliance with any term of the original order.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (2) Where an application to vary an order has been heard under subsection (1), no other application may be made under that subsection in respect of that order except with leave of the court.

Marginal note:Offence and punishment

35 Every person who contravenes an order made under section 33 or 34

• (a) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine not exceeding the maximum fine to which a person is liable on summary conviction for the original offence; or

• (b) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to a fine not exceeding the maximum fine to which a person is liable on conviction on indictment for the original offence.

Report to Parliament

Marginal note:Annual report

• 36 (1) The Minister shall, as soon as possible after the end of each fiscal year, prepare and cause to be laid before each House of Parliament a report on the administration and enforcement of this Act for that year.

• Marginal note:Comparison of energy efficiency standards

  (2) Once every three years, in the report referred to in subsection (1), the Minister shall demonstrate the extent to which the energy efficiency standards prescribed under this Act are as stringent as comparable standards established by a province, the United Mexican States, the United States of America or a state of the United States of America.

Marginal note:Report on extent energy efficiency standards established

37 Within four years after the day on which this section comes into force, the Minister shall, in the report referred to in subsection 36(1), demonstrate the extent to which energy efficiency standards have been prescribed under this Act for all energy-using products whose use has a significant impact on energy consumption in Canada.

Coming into Force

Marginal note:Coming into force

Footnote ^*38 This Act or any provision thereof shall come into force on a day or days to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.

• Return to footnote ^*[Note: Section 21 in force September 1, 1992, sections 1 to 20 and 22 to 37 in force January 1, 1993, see SI/92-153.]