Excise Tax Act — E-15 293
Definitions 293 (1) In this section, custodian means a person in whose custody a package is placed under subsection (3); ( gardien ) judge means a judge of a superior court having jurisdiction in the province where the matter arises or a judge of the Federal Court; ( juge ) lawyer means, in the Province of Quebec, an advocate, lawyer or notary and, in any other province, a barrister or solicitor; ( avocat ) officer means a person acting under the authority conferred by any of sections 276 and 288 to 291; ( fonctionnaire ) solicitor-client privilege means the right, if any, that a person has in a superior court in the province where the matter arises to refuse to disclose an oral or documentary communication on the ground that the communication is one passing between the person and the person’s lawyer in professional confidence, except that, for the purposes of this section, an accounting record of a lawyer, including any supporting invoice, voucher or cheque, shall be deemed not to be such a communication. ( privilège des communications entre client et avocat ) Solicitor-client privilege defence (2) Where a lawyer is prosecuted for failure to comply with a requirement under section 289 with respect to information or a document, the lawyer shall be acquitted if the lawyer establishes to the satisfaction of the court that the lawyer (a) believed on reasonable grounds that a client of the lawyer had a solicitor-client privilege in respect of the information or document; and (b) communicated to the Minister, or to a person duly authorized to act for the Minister, the lawyer’s refusal to comply with the requirement, together with a claim that a named client of the lawyer had a solicitor-client privilege in respect of the information or document. Seizure where privilege claimed (3) Where, under section 290, an officer is about to seize a document in the possession of a lawyer and the lawyer claims that a named client of the lawyer has a solicitor-client privilege in respect of the document, the officer shall, without inspecting, examining or making copies of the document, (a) seize the document and place it, together with any other document in respect of which the lawyer at the same time makes the same claim on behalf of the same client, in a package and suitably seal and identify the package; and (b) place the package in the custody of the sheriff of the district or county in which the seizure was made or, if the officer and the lawyer agree in writing on a person to act as custodian, in the custody of that person. Retention where privilege claimed (4) If, under section 288, an officer is about to inspect or examine a document in the possession of a lawyer or if, under section 289, the Minister has required the provision of a document by a lawyer, and the lawyer claims that a named client of the lawyer has a solicitor-client privilege in respect of the document, no officer shall inspect or examine the document and the lawyer shall (a) place the document, together with any other document in respect of which the lawyer at the same time makes the same claim on behalf of the same client, in a package and suitably seal and identify the package or, if the officer and the lawyer agree, allow the pages of the document to be initialed and numbered or otherwise suitably identified; and (b) retain it and ensure that it is preserved until it is produced to a judge as required under this section and an order is issued under this section in respect of the document. Application to judge (5) Where a document is seized and placed in custody under subsection (3) or is retained under subsection (4), the client, or the lawyer on behalf of the client, may (a) within fourteen days after the day the document was so placed in custody or began to be so retained apply, on three clear days notice of motion to the Deputy Attorney General of Canada, to a judge for an order (i) fixing a day, not later than twenty-one days after the date of the order, and a plac