Bill C-21

If you have any questions or comments regarding the accessibility of this publication, please contact us at accessible@parl.gc.ca.

Bilingual view XML PDF

SUMMARY
Customs Act
Coming into Force
EXPLANATORY NOTES

First Session, Forty-second Parliament,

64-65 Elizabeth II, 2015-2016

HOUSE OF COMMONS OF CANADA

BILL C-21
An Act to amend the Customs Act

FIRST READING, June 15, 2016

MINISTER OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS

90797

SUMMARY

This enactment amends the Customs Act to authorize the Canada Border Services Agency to collect, from prescribed persons and prescribed sources, personal information on all persons who are leaving or have left Canada. It also amends the Act to authorize an officer, as defined in that Act, to require that goods that are to be exported from Canada are to be reported despite any exemption under that Act. In addition, it amends the Act to provide officers with the power to examine any goods that are to be exported. Finally, it amends the Act to authorize the disclosure of information collected under the Customs Act to an official of the Department of Employment and Social Development for the purposes of administering or enforcing the Old Age Security Act.

Available on the House of Commons website at the following address:

www.ourcommons.ca

1st Session, 42nd Parliament,

64-65 Elizabeth II, 2015-2016

HOUSE OF COMMONS OF CANADA

BILL C-21

An Act to amend the Customs Act

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

R.‍S.‍, c. 1 (2nd Supp.‍)

Customs Act

1 The heading of Part V of the Customs Act is replaced by the following:

Collection of Information About Persons and Goods

2 The Act is amended by adding the following before section 95:

Persons Leaving Canada

Information

92 (1) In relation to any person who is leaving Canada or who has left Canada, the Agency may collect, from a prescribed source, in the prescribed circumstances, within the prescribed time and in the prescribed manner, the following information:

(a) the surname, first name and middle names, the date of birth, the citizenship or nationality and the sex of the person;
(b) the type of travel document that identifies the person, the name of the country or organization that issued the travel document and the travel document number; and
(c) the date, time and place of the person’s departure from Canada and, if the person arrives in the United States, the date, time and place of their arrival.
End of inserted block

Regulations

(2) The Governor in Council may make regulations for the purposes of subsection (1), including regulations

(a) prescribing the sources from which the information may be collected;
(b) respecting the circumstances in which the information may be collected; and
(c) respecting the time within which and the manner in which the information may be collected.
End of inserted block

Information given to Agency

93 (1) With respect to a prescribed conveyance that departs or is expected to depart from a place inside Canada and that has a final destination outside of Canada, a prescribed person shall give the Agency, in the prescribed circumstances, within the prescribed time and in the prescribed manner,

(a) in relation to the conveyance or its travel route, the last place inside Canada from which it departed, regardless of whether persons boarded the conveyance at that place, the date and time of that departure and any prescribed information; and
(b) in relation to any person on board or expected to be on board that conveyance, the following information:
- (i) the surname, first name and middle names, the date of birth, the citizenship or nationality and the sex of the person,
- (ii) the type of travel document that identifies the person, the name of the country or organization that issued the travel document and the travel document number, and
- (iii) any unique passenger reference assigned to the person by the prescribed person.
  End of inserted block

Notification

(2) The Minister may issue a notification to any person who is required to give information under subsection (1) to require the person to take any specified measure with respect to the information.

Obligation to comply

(3) The person to whom the notification is issued shall comply with the notification.

Provision of information despite restriction

(4) Any restriction under the Aeronautics Act on the disclosure of information does not apply to a person who is required to give information under subsection (1).

Regulations

(5) The Governor in Council may make regulations for the purposes of this section, including regulations

(a) prescribing the information that must be given under paragraph (1)‍(a);
(b) respecting the conveyances in relation to which information must be given under subsection (1);
(c) prescribing the persons or classes of persons who must give the information under subsection (1);
(d) respecting the circumstances in which the information must be given under subsection (1); and
(e) respecting the time within which and the manner in which the information must be given under subsection (1).
End of inserted block

Obligation to answer questions

94 Every person who is leaving Canada shall, if requested to do so by an officer, present themselves to an officer and answer truthfully any questions asked by an officer in the performance of their duties under this or any other Act of Parliament.

Exportation of Goods

3 Subsection 95(1) of the Act is replaced by the following:

Report

95 (1) Subject to Insertion start subsections (1.‍1) and (1.‍2) and Insertion end paragraph (2)‍(a), all goods that are exported shall be reported at Insertion start any Insertion end time and place and in Insertion start any Insertion end manner Insertion start that Insertion end may be prescribed.

Exception — entry and departure

(1.‍1) Goods that are on board a conveyance that enters and then leaves Canadian waters, including the inland waters, or the airspace over Canada while proceeding directly from one place outside Canada to another place outside Canada are exempted from the requirements of subsection (1).

Exception — departure and re-entry

(1.‍2) Goods that are on board a conveyance that leaves and then re-enters Canadian waters, including the inland waters, or the airspace over Canada while proceeding directly from one place inside Canada to another place inside Canada are exempted from the requirements of subsection (1).

Powers of officer

(1.‍3) However, an officer may require that goods exempted under subsection (1.‍1) or (1.‍2) or the regulations made under paragraph (2)‍(a) be reported under subsection (1).

2001, c. 25, s. 58(1)

4 (1) Subsections 97.‍25(1) and (2) of the Act are replaced by the following:

Detention of imported or exported goods

97.‍25 (1) Any goods Insertion start that are to be exported, that have been reported Insertion end under section 95 or Insertion start that have been Insertion end imported, by or on behalf of a debtor, are subject to a lien Insertion start or hypothec Insertion end for the amount owed by the debtor and may be detained by an officer at the expense of the debtor until that amount is paid.

Conveyances

(2) Any conveyance used for the importation Insertion start or exportation Insertion end of goods in respect of which a notice has been served under section 109.‍3 is subject to a lien Insertion start or hypothec Insertion end for the amount owed by the debtor and may be detained by an officer at the expense of the person on whom the notice was served until the amount set out in the notice is paid.

2007, c. 18, s. 136(1)

(2) The portion of subsection 97.‍25(3) of the Act before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:

Sale of detained goods

(3) Subject to the regulations, the Minister, on giving 30 days’ notice in writing to the debtor at the debtor’s latest known address, may direct that any good imported or Insertion start to be exported, or any good reported under section 95 Insertion end , by or on behalf of the debtor, or any conveyance, that has been detained be sold

2001, c. 25, s. 59(3)‍(F)

5 Paragraph 99(1)‍(c) of the Act is replaced by the following:

(c) at any time up to the time of exportation, examine any goods Insertion start that are to be exported or Insertion end that have been reported under section 95 and open or cause to be opened any package or container of Insertion start those Insertion end goods and take samples of Insertion start those Insertion end goods in reasonable amounts;

2001, c. 25, s. 61; 2005, c. 34, par. 79(c); 2013, c. 40, par. 237(1)‍(e)

6 Paragraph 107(5)‍(i) of the Act is replaced by the following:

(i) an official of the Department of Employment and Social Development solely for the purpose of administering or enforcing the Employment Insurance Act Insertion start or the Old Age Security Act Insertion end , if the information relates to the movement of people into and out of Canada;

7 Section 159 of the Act is replaced by the following:

Smuggling — into Canada

159 Insertion start (1) Insertion end Every person commits an offence who smuggles or attempts to smuggle into Canada, whether clandestinely or not, any goods Insertion start that are Insertion end subject to duties, or any goods the importation of which is prohibited, controlled or regulated Insertion start under Insertion end this or any other Act of Parliament.

Smuggling — out of Canada

(2) Every person commits an offence who smuggles or attempts to smuggle out of Canada, whether clandestinely or not, any goods that are subject to duties, or any goods the exportation of which is prohibited, controlled or regulated under this or any other Act of Parliament.

2001, c. 25, s. 82(1)

8 The portion of subsection 160(1) of the Act before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:

General offence and punishment

160 (1) Every person who contravenes section 11, 12, 13, 15 or 16, subsection 20(1), section 31 or 40, subsection 43(2), section Insertion start 94, subsection Insertion end 95(1) or (3), 103(3) or 107(2) or section 153, 155, 156 or 159.‍1 or commits an offence under Insertion start subsection Insertion end 159 Insertion start (1) or (2) Insertion end or knowingly contravenes an order referred to in subsection 107(11)

Coming into Force

Order in council

9 The provisions of this Act come into force on a day or days to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.

Published under authority of the Speaker of the House of Commons

EXPLANATORY NOTES

Customs Act

Clause 1: Existing heading of Part V:

Exportation

Clause 2: New.

Clause 3: Existing text of subsection 95(1):

95 (1) Subject to paragraph (2)‍(a), all goods that are exported shall be reported at such time and place and in such manner as may be prescribed.

Clause 4: (1) Existing text of subsections 97.‍25(1) and (2):

97.‍25 (1) Any goods reported for exportation under section 95 or imported by or on behalf of a debtor are subject to a lien for the amount owed by the debtor and may be detained by an officer at the expense of the debtor until that amount is paid.

(2) Any conveyance used for the importation of goods in respect of which a notice under section 109.‍3 has been served is subject to a lien for the amount owed by the debtor and may be detained by an officer at the expense of the person on whom the notice was served until the amount set out in the notice is paid.

(2) Relevant portion of subsection 97.‍25(3):

(3) Subject to the regulations, the Minister, on giving 30 days’ notice in writing to the debtor at the debtor’s latest known address, may direct that any good imported or reported for exportation by or on behalf of the debtor, or any conveyance, that has been detained be sold

Clause 5: Relevant portion of subsection 99(1):

99 (1) An officer may

.‍.‍.
(c) at any time up to the time of exportation, examine any goods that have been reported under section 95 and open or cause to be opened any package or container of such goods and take samples of such goods in reasonable amounts;

Clause 6: Relevant portion of subsection 107(5):

(5) An official may provide, allow to be provided or provide access to customs information to the following persons:

.‍.‍.
(i) an official of the Department of Employment and Social Development solely for the purpose of administering or enforcing the Employment Insurance Act, if the information relates to the movement of people into and out of Canada;

Clause 7: Existing text of section 159:

159 Every person commits an offence who smuggles or attempts to smuggle into Canada, whether clandestinely or not, any goods subject to duties, or any goods the importation of which is prohibited, controlled or regulated by or pursuant to this or any other Act of Parliament.

Clause 8: Relevant portion of subsection 160(1):

160 (1) Every person who contravenes section 11, 12, 13, 15 or 16, subsection 20(1), section 31 or 40, subsection 43(2), 95(1) or (3), 103(3) or 107(2) or section 153, 155, 156 or 159.‍1 or commits an offence under section 159 or knowingly contravenes an order referred to in subsection 107(11)