Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act

Marginal note:Search of the person

• 15 (1) An officer may search

  • (a) any person who has arrived in Canada, within a reasonable time after their arrival in Canada,

  • (b) any person who is about to leave Canada, at any time before their departure, or

  • (c) any person who has had access to an area designated for use by persons about to leave Canada and who leaves the area but does not leave Canada, within a reasonable time after they leave the area,

  if the officer suspects on reasonable grounds that the person has secreted on or about their person currency or monetary instruments that are of a value greater than the amount prescribed for the purpose of subsection 12(1) and that have not been reported in accordance with that subsection.

• Marginal note:Person taken before senior officer

  (2) An officer who is about to search a person under this section shall, on the person’s request, without delay take the person before the senior officer at the place where the search is to take place.

• Marginal note:Discharge or search

  (3) A senior officer before whom a person is taken under subsection (2) shall, if the senior officer believes there are no reasonable grounds for suspicion under subsection (1), discharge the person or, if the senior officer believes otherwise, direct that the person be searched.

• Marginal note:Search by same sex

  (4) No person shall be searched under this section by a person who is not of the same sex, and if there is no officer of the same sex at the place where the search is to take place, an officer may authorize any suitable person of the same sex to perform the search.