Source: http://gazetteducanada.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2018/2018-05-02/html/sor-dors86-eng.html
Timestamp: 2020-02-25 15:49:23
Document Index: 736503603

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 2', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 3', 'art 3', 'art 3', 'art 3', 'art 3', 'art 3', 'art 7', 'art 8', 'art 1', 'art 1']

Canada Gazette, Part 2, Volume 152, Number 9: Regulations Amending the Administrative Monetary Penalties and Notices (CSA 2001) Regulations: SOR/2018-86
Regulations Amending the Administrative Monetary Penalties and Notices (CSA 2001) Regulations: SOR/2018-86
P.C. 2018-440 April 20, 2018
Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Transport, pursuant to paragraphs 244(f)footnote a to (h) of the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 footnote b, makes the annexed Regulations Amending the Administrative Monetary Penalties and Notices (CSA 2001) Regulations.
1 Subsection 2(1) of the Administrative Monetary Penalties and Notices (CSA 2001) Regulations footnote 1 is replaced by the following:
2 Item 4 of Part 1 of the schedule to the Regulations is replaced by the following:
3 Part 1 of the schedule to the Regulations is amended by adding the following in numerical order:
4 The portion of items 1 to 4 of Part 3 of the schedule to the Regulations in column 1 is amended by replacing “Section 4 and subsection” with “Subsection”.
5 The portion of items 5 to 7 of Part 3 of the schedule to the Regulations in column 1 is amended by replacing “Section 4 and Rule” with “Rule”.
6 Part 3 of the schedule to the Regulations is amended by adding the following after item 7:
7 The portion of items 8 to 111 of Part 3 of the schedule to the Regulations in column 1 is amended by replacing “Section 4 and Rule” with “Rule”.
8 Part 3 of the schedule to the Regulations is amended by adding the following after item 111:
9 The portion of items 112 to 114 of Part 3 of the schedule to the Regulations in column 1 is amended by replacing “Section 4 and Rule” with “Rule”.
10 The portion of item 9 of Part 7 of the schedule to the Regulations in column 2 is amended by replacing “6,000 to 25,000” with “1,250 to 25,000”.
11 The schedule to the Regulations is amended by adding the following after Part 8:
The Administrative Monetary Penalties and Notices (CSA 2001) Regulations (the Regulations) were brought into force on April 3, 2008, as an additional enforcement option to promote compliance in the marine transportation system. Without administrative monetary penalties (AMPs), actions against non-compliance with legislation would be limited to prosecution of a summary conviction or indictable offence, vessel detention, in certain instances suspending or cancelling Canadian maritime documents (CMDs), and issuing tickets under the Contraventions Regulations. Exclusive use of these methods of penalization limit the tools available to marine safety inspectors to enforce the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 (CSA 2001).
The amendments to the Regulations designate new violations, set out appropriate penalty ranges for certain regulations made under the CSA 2001 and for certain provisions of the CSA 2001, and expand the enforcement tools available to marine safety inspectors.
The marine safety program of Transport Canada (TC) provides Canadians with a safe and efficient marine transportation system. The role of Transport Canada Marine Safety and Security is not only to encourage and promote compliance with the CSA 2001 and its related regulations, but also to deal with non-compliance in an effective and consistent manner. Periodic updates to the Regulations are required to maintain a robust and effective administrative monetary penalty system.
Significant amendments were made to the Regulations in 2012, which expanded the schedule of violations from applying exclusively to the CSA 2001 to include seven regulations, as well as articulating procedures related to the service of notices to stakeholders regarding a monetary violation related to a CMD. Specifically, these notices apply to the refusal to issue, the suspension of, the cancellation of, and the refusal to renew a CMD, as defined in section 2 of the CSA 2001. The Regulations were also amended in 2015 to repeal item 4 of Part 1 of the schedule to the Regulations, and to address concerns expressed by the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations (SJCSR).
Since the Regulations came into force in April 2008, TC has issued administrative penalties under the CSA 2001 that have resulted in the collection of approximately $3.2M. Over this time period, $383K was collected in the peak year of 2010, which suggests the administration of monetary penalties regime is having the desired effect of promoting compliance within the marine community with respect to the requirements of the CSA 2001 and its regulations.
Furthermore, the Department leveraged the use of assurances of compliancefootnote 2 in conjunction with administrative monetary penalties to encourage corrective action. At present, 32 corrective actions have been taken against violations designated pursuant to the Regulations.
The objective of the amendments is to continue to enhance the Department’s ability to use administrative penalties to promote compliance with the requirements of the CSA 2001 and its regulations.
The amendments designate new provisions as violations under the following regulations, which will allow Transport Canada marine safety inspectors to issue AMPs under these regulations:
New violations will be listed in the following new parts of the schedule to the Regulations and are summarized below:
blue flashing light as an identification signal
proper certificates are obtained
Violations are also being added or reintroduced for the CSA 2001. They will be added to Part 1 of the schedule to the Regulations:
return of Canadian maritime document
In summary, the Regulations will add 572 violations for seven different pieces of legislation as well as make administrative changes to clarify existing designated violations. The amendments are being made in accordance with the penalty range already employed by the existing Regulations. Penalty ranges, rather than fixed amounts, are being used to ensure that the administration of monetary penalties is appropriate to the circumstances of each case and that full consideration can be given to any mitigating or aggravating factors, such as the compliance record of the person or vessel that committed the violation, and any consequences of the violation. The three established penalty ranges were developed by departmental officials and enforcement specialists and categorized by the seriousness of the violations. The categories are the following: low impact with penalties ranging from $250 to $5,000; medium impact with penalties ranging from $600 to $12,000; and high impact with penalties ranging from $1,250 to $25,000.
The “One-for-One” Rule does not apply to these regulatory changes, as they simply modify existing penalties without imposing any new administrative burden or costs.
The small business lens does not apply, as there are no new costs to small businesses.
Transport Canada’s Marine Safety and Security Program has undertaken extensive and comprehensive consultations with the marine community at both the regional and national levels through the Canadian Marine Advisory Council (CMAC) regarding all facets of these amendments. Of note, consultations occurred during the fall 2013, spring 2014, and spring 2016 at national CMAC meetings. The amendment project was discussed with stakeholders and a PowerPoint presentation and information paper were distributed, which included a detailed articulation of the proposed penalties.
Consultations conducted to date have not shown opposition among stakeholders. These amendments have generated little discussion, which suggests there is general industry recognition that an effective administrative penalty scheme is an important tool of legislative enforcement. There are no vulnerable social or economic groups that are anticipated to be negatively impacted by the amendments.
The amendments were prepublished in the Canada Gazette, Part I, on October 14, 2017, followed by a 30-day comment period, to provide interested persons with a further opportunity to comment. No comments were received.
Modifications to the amendments following prepublication
When the amendments were prepublished in the Canada Gazette, Part I, they proposed to designate 50 pollution prevention and response provisions under the CSA 2001. Following further internal review, 16 of the provisions were not included in the final amendments, given that these provisions are under the sole responsibility of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. The amendments designate only provisions administered by the Minister of Transport.
In addition, the amendments were modified to restore the designation of offences related to the return of suspended or cancelled maritime documents to the Minister of Transport [in subsection 20(2) of the Act]. An incorrect reference in the Act, identified by the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations, motivated the removal of the relevant designation from the Regulations on July 1, 2015. The reference in the Act was corrected by the Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2017, which received royal assent on December 12, 2017. With this issue addressed, the amendments reintroduce the designation of offences related to this provision, to ensure that administrative monetary penalties are again available for enforcement purposes.
The changes to the Regulations address gaps in the existing administrative monetary penalties regime and expand the Minister of Transport’s range of enforcement tools. This leads to an overall increase in the effectiveness of enforcement. An effective marine safety oversight regime could generate a boost in public confidence that would have a positive impact on those working in the marine transportation sector while promoting a safer Canadian maritime transportation system.
The changes to the Regulations will benefit the Canadian public by enabling marine safety inspectors to impose a penalty for a contravention using an administrative enforcement tool rather than commencing a judicial process by laying a charge. Judicial proceedings often result in considerable cost to the federal government and to the individual, corporation or vessel involved and are not always the most appropriate tool to encourage compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements.
A distinct advantage of the established AMPs scheme, which these amendments enhance, is that there are multiple options available to those who commit a violation. Recipients of an administrative monetary penalty can elect to pay the penalty imposed, may enter into an assurance of compliance to comply with a provision in a predetermined period of time, which could minimize or eliminate the penalty, or apply to the Transportation Appeal Tribunal of Canada (TATC) to have their AMP reviewed.
The TATC is an independent, administrative, quasi-judicial body, established in 2003 pursuant to the Transportation Appeal Tribunal of Canada Act, which provides a recourse mechanism for administrative actions by the Minister of Transport made pursuant to the CSA 2001, among other transportation statutes. This body is less formal than a judicial court, and cases can be presented without legal representation. Often, the TATC is able to accommodate a case proceeding more quickly than a judicial court, and usually at significantly less cost to the applicant. To date, Transport Canada has issued over 580 violations pursuant to the Regulations and, of those, 45 cases have been reviewed by the TATC.
The implementation of the new violations included in these Regulations is anticipated to be seamless to the Canadian public, as the new requirements will be integrated into the existing Transport Canada Marine Safety administrative penalty scheme. The present AMP enforcement system is tailored to achieve both compliance and deterrence. An AMP will generally be imposed when it is the most effective measure. Other tools include non-penalty actions (oral counselling, warning letter or assurance of compliance) and, if necessary, penalty actions through the use of tickets under the Contraventions Act, and prosecution in the courts of summary conviction and indictable offences. In some cases, the Minister may detain a vessel. The enforcement tool utilized in any particular instance will depend upon
(b) the circumstances when it was committed (e.g. whether it was committed willfully or deliberately);
(c) the seriousness of any consequences;
(d) the compliance record of the person or vessel that committed the violation; and
(e) the willingness of the person or vessel to take measures to ensure compliance in the future.
Once it is determined that the issuance of a notice of violation is the appropriate tool to address a given violation of the CSA 2001 or a regulation, the Department will proceed with imposing a penalty. First, the established penalty range of the corresponding provision in the Regulations will be reviewed. Second, within each of the three penalty ranges (low, medium and high), the marine safety inspector will consult departmental guidance material for the appropriate penalty range for a first violation, second violation and third or subsequent violation. Subject to change, the chart below provides a current summary of this approach. Since 2008, TC has ensured a nationally consistent application of penalty amounts for all notices of violation issued through the Marine Enforcement Management System (MEMS).
As a matter of general policy, vessels and corporations will be subject to higher penalties than individuals. If the penalty associated with the violation is not paid, it becomes a debt due to Her Majesty.
The Regulations enter into force on the day on which they are registered.
613-991-3008
michele.rae@tc.gc.ca
An assurance of compliance is a binding agreement that includes the assessed amount of the penalty and allows a person or vessel to come into compliance within a specified period of time without incurring a sanction.