Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, 1992 (S.C. 1992, c. 34)

Security Plans

Marginal note:Security plan

• 7.3 (1) No prescribed person shall import, offer for transport, handle or transport dangerous goods in a quantity or concentration that is specified by regulation — or that is within a range of quantities or concentrations that is specified by regulation — before the person has undergone security training in accordance with the regulations, has a security plan that meets the requirements of subsection (2) and has implemented the plan in accordance with the regulations.

• Marginal note:Contents

  (2) The plan shall, in accordance with the regulations, set out measures to prevent the dangerous goods from being stolen or otherwise unlawfully interfered with in the course of the importing, offering for transport, handling or transporting.

Means of Containment

Marginal note:Improper means of containment

8 No person shall sell, offer for sale, deliver, distribute, import or use a standardized means of containment unless it displays all applicable safety marks in accordance with the regulations.

Marginal note:Supply records

• 9 (1) A manufacturer or importer of standardized means of containment shall keep records of the persons to whom the manufacturer or importer supplies the means of containment.

• Marginal note:Notice of defective construction or recall

  (2) If the Minister believes on reasonable grounds that any standardized means of containment is unsafe as supplied by the manufacturer or as imported for handling or transporting dangerous goods, the Minister may direct the manufacturer or importer to issue a notice of defective construction or recall to the person to whom it was supplied.

• Marginal note:Notice of defective repair or defective testing

  (3) The Minister may direct a person who repaired or tested a standardized means of containment to issue a notice of defective repair or defective testing, as the case may be, to the person for whom it was repaired or tested, or to publish the notice in a manner such that the notice is likely to come to that person’s attention, if the Minister believes on reasonable grounds that the person who repaired or tested the standardized means of containment

  • (a) failed to comply with an applicable safety requirement or safety standard; and

  • (b) affixed to the standardized means of containment — or did not remove from it — the safety mark that indicates that the safety requirement or safety standard had been complied with.

Inspectors

Marginal note:Designation of inspectors

• 10 (1) The Minister may designate persons or classes of persons whom the Minister considers qualified to act as inspectors for any of the purposes of this Act, and may revoke such a designation.

• Marginal note:Certificate of designation

  (2) The Minister shall give every inspector a certificate of designation showing the matters in respect of which the inspector is designated, including the purposes, classes of dangerous goods, means of containment, means of transport and places for which the inspector is designated.

• Marginal note:Certificate to be shown

  (3) On entering any place or inspecting anything, an inspector shall show the certificate to the person in charge of the place or thing if the person requests proof of the inspector’s designation.

11 [Repealed, 2009, c. 9, s. 11]

12 [Repealed, 2009, c. 9, s. 11]

Marginal note:Obstruction of inspectors

• 13 (1) When an inspector is exercising powers or carrying out duties and functions under this Act, no person shall

  • (a) fail to comply with any reasonable request of the inspector;

  • (b) knowingly make any false or misleading statement either orally or in writing to the inspector;

  • (c) except with the authority of the inspector, remove, alter or interfere in any way with anything detained or removed by or under the direction of the inspector; or

  • (d) otherwise obstruct or hinder the inspector.

• Marginal note:Obstruction of qualified person

  (2) When a qualified person is exercising powers under subsection 15(3), no person shall

  • (a) fail to comply with any reasonable request of the qualified person;

  • (b) knowingly make any false or misleading statement either orally or in writing to the qualified person; or

  • (c) otherwise obstruct or hinder the qualified person.

Financial Responsibility

Marginal note:Financial responsibility

• 14 (1) No person shall import, offer for transport, handle or transport dangerous goods, or manufacture or import standardized means of containment, unless the person is financially responsible in accordance with the regulations.

• Marginal note:Proof of financial responsibility

  (2) A person who carries on any of those activities shall provide to an inspector on request the proof that is required under the regulations of financial responsibility.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (3) This section does not apply to Her Majesty in right of Canada or a province or to the entities named in Schedules II and III to the Financial Administration Act.

Monitoring Compliance

Marginal note:Powers of inspector

• 15 (1) For the purpose of ensuring compliance with this Act, an inspector may, subject to section 16 but at any reasonable time, stop any means of transport for which the inspector is designated and enter and inspect any place, or any such means of transport, if the inspector believes on reasonable grounds that in or on the place or means of transport there are

  • (a) dangerous goods being offered for transport, handled or transported;

  • (b) means of containment being manufactured, repaired or tested on which a compliance mark is displayed or will be affixed;

  • (c) standardized means of containment;

  • (d) books, shipping records, emergency response assistance plans, security plans or other documents that contain any information relevant to the purposes of this Act; or

  • (e) computer systems, data processing systems or any other electronic devices or media that contain information relevant to the purposes of this Act, or that have such information available to them.

• Marginal note:Powers of inspector

  (2) In the course of carrying out an inspection under subsection (1), an inspector may

  • (a) open and inspect, or request the opening and inspection of, any means of containment for which the inspector is designated, including any closures, valves, safety release devices or other appurtenances that are essential to the use of the means of containment to contain dangerous goods, if the inspector believes on reasonable grounds that it is being used to handle or transport dangerous goods or to contain dangerous goods offered for transport;

  • (b) open and inspect, or request the opening and inspection of, any means of containment described in paragraph (1)(b) or (c), including any closures, valves, safety release devices or other appurtenances that are essential to the use of the means of containment to contain dangerous goods;

  • (c) for the purpose of analysis, take, or request the taking of, a reasonable quantity of anything the inspector believes on reasonable grounds to be dangerous goods;

  • (d) examine, or request the examining of, information described in paragraph (1)(d) or (e) that the inspector believes on reasonable grounds is relevant to the purposes of this Act and make, or request the making of, copies of any of it; and

  • (e) ask questions of any person for the purposes of this Act.

• Marginal note:Authorized person

  (3) An inspector may, in accordance with the regulations, authorize any qualified person to enter any place or means of transport that the inspector may enter under subsection (1) and to exercise any of the powers set out in subsection (2).

Marginal note:Warrant required to enter dwelling-place

• 16 (1) An inspector may not enter a dwelling-place except with the consent of the occupant or under the authority of a warrant.

• Marginal note:Authority to issue warrant

  (2) Where on ex parte application a justice, as defined in section 2 of the Criminal Code, is satisfied by information on oath that

  • (a) the conditions for entry described in section 15 exist in relation to a dwelling-place,

  • (b) entry is necessary for the purposes of this Act, and

  • (c) entry has been refused or there are reasonable grounds for believing that entry will be refused,

  the justice may at any time sign and issue a warrant authorizing the inspector named in the warrant to enter the dwelling-place subject to any conditions that may be specified in the warrant.

• Marginal note:Use of force

  (3) The inspector who executes the warrant shall not use force unless the inspector is accompanied by a peace officer and the use of force has been specifically authorized in the warrant.

Marginal note:Certificate of inspection

• 16.1 (1) If an inspector or a person authorized under subsection 15(3) opens anything, or requests that anything be opened, for inspection or for the taking of a reasonable quantity of anything that is sealed or closed up, the inspector shall provide the person who has the charge, management or control of the thing that was opened with a certificate in prescribed form as proof that it was opened for that purpose.

• Marginal note:Effect of inspector’s certificate

  (2) The person to whom, or for whose benefit, the certificate is provided is not liable, either civilly or criminally, in respect of any act or omission of the inspector or authorized person in the course of the inspection of the thing or the taking of the reasonable quantity from it, but is not otherwise exempt from compliance with this Act and the regulations.

Marginal note:Remedying non-compliance — dangerous goods

• 17 (1) An inspector may remove to an appropriate place any dangerous goods, the means of containment being used to handle or transport them or a standardized means of containment, or direct a person to do so, and may detain the thing removed until satisfied that the activity will be done in compliance with this Act, if the inspector believes on reasonable grounds that any of the following activities is being carried out in a way that does not comply with this Act:

  • (a) importing, offering for transport, handling or transporting dangerous goods; or

  • (b) selling, offering for sale, delivering, distributing, importing or using a standardized means of containment.

• Marginal note:Other measures

  (2) The inspector may also take any other measures necessary to remedy the non-compliance or direct a person to take the necessary measures.

• Marginal note:Direction not to bring into Canada

  (3) If the dangerous goods or means of containment originates from outside Canada and the inspector believes on reasonable grounds that measures to remedy the non-compliance are not possible or desirable, the inspector may direct that the goods or means of containment not be brought into Canada or that they be returned to their place of origin.

• Marginal note:Persons liable to direction

  (4) A direction may be issued under this section only to a person who, at the time of the non-compliance or at any time afterward, owns, imports or has the charge, management or control of the dangerous goods or means of containment.

Duty to Respond

Marginal note:Duty to report

• 18 (1) Any person who has the charge, management or control of a means of containment shall report to every person prescribed for the purposes of this subsection any actual or anticipated release of dangerous goods that is or could be in excess of a quantity or concentration specified by regulation from the means of containment if the release endangers, or could endanger, public safety.

• Marginal note:Duty to take reasonable emergency measures

  (2) Every person required to make a report shall, as soon as possible in the circumstances, take all reasonable emergency measures to reduce or eliminate any danger to public safety that results or may reasonably be expected to result from the release.

• Marginal note:Loss or theft

  (3) If dangerous goods in excess of a quantity or concentration that is specified by regulation are lost or stolen during their handling or transporting, any person who had the charge, management or control of the goods immediately before the loss or theft shall report it to every person prescribed for the purposes of this subsection.

Intervention

Marginal note:Grounds for intervention

• 19 (1) If an inspector believes on reasonable grounds that doing so is necessary to prevent an anticipated release of dangerous goods that could endanger public safety, or to reduce any danger to public safety that results or could result from an actual release of dangerous goods, the inspector may do any of the following:

  • (a) remove the dangerous goods, or a means of containment being used to handle or transport the dangerous goods, to an appropriate place, or direct a person to remove the dangerous goods or the means of containment to such a place;

  • (b) direct a person to do anything else to prevent the release or reduce any resulting danger to public safety, or to refrain from doing anything that might impede the prevention of the release or the reduction of the danger; and

  • (c) exercise any power set out in section 15.

• Marginal note:Persons liable to direction

  (2) Such a direction may be issued only to any person

  • (a) who, when the release occurs or is anticipated or at any time afterward, owns, imports or has the charge, management or control of the dangerous goods or means of containment;

  • (b) who is required under section 7 to have an emergency response assistance plan that applies to the actual or anticipated release;

  • (c) who is responding to the actual or anticipated release in accordance with an emergency response assistance plan approved under section 7; or

  • (d) who causes or contributes to the occurrence of the actual or anticipated release.

Personal Liability

Marginal note:Personal liability

20 The following persons are not personally liable, either civilly or criminally, in respect of any act or omission done in good faith and without negligence:

• (a) any person who responds to an actual or anticipated release using an emergency response assistance plan that applies to the release, acts in accordance with the plan and informs the Canadian Transport Emergency Centre of the Department of Transport of their response to the release;

• (b) any person who is directed or required under paragraph 7.1(a), section 17, subsection 18(2) or paragraph 19(1)(a) or (b) to do or refrain from doing anything and acts in accordance with the direction or requirement; and

• (c) any person who acts in accordance with an authorization given under paragraph 7.1(b).