Bill C-81

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First Reading

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	1st Session, 36th Parliament, 46-47-48 Elizabeth II, 1997-98-99
	The House of Commons of Canada
	BILL C-81
	An Act to facilitate combatting the laundering of proceeds of crime, to establish the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada and to amend or repeal certain Acts in consequence
	Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:
	SHORT TITLE
Short title	1. This Act may be cited as the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) Act.
	INTERPRETATION
Definitions	2. The definitions in this section apply in this Act.
``authorized person'' « personne autorisée »	``authorized person'' means a person who is authorized under subsection 46(2).
``Centre'' « Centre »	``Centre'' means the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada established by section 42.
``client'' « client »	``client'' means a person who engages in a financial transaction or activity with a person or an entity referred to in section 5 and includes a person or an entity on whose behalf the person who engages in the transaction or activity is acting.
``courier'' « messager »	``courier'' has the same meaning as in subsection 2(1) of the Customs Act.
``customs office'' « bureau de douane »	``customs office'' has the same meaning as in subsection 2(1) of the Customs Act.
``Deputy Minister'' « sous-ministr e »	``Deputy Minister'' means the Deputy Minister of National Revenue.
``lawyer'' « avocat »	``lawyer'' means, in the Province of Quebec, an advocate or a notary and, in any other province, a barrister or solicitor.
``mail'' « envois » ou « courrier »	``mail'' has the same meaning as in subsection 2(1) of the Canada Post Corporation Act.
``Minister'' « ministre »	``Minister'' means
	(a) in relation to sections 26 to 39, the Minister of National Revenue; and
	(b) in relation to any other provision of this Act, the member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada who is designated by the Governor in Council as the Minister for the purposes of that provision.
``money laundering offence'' « infraction de recyclage des produits de la criminalité »	``money laundering offence'' means an offence under subsection 462.31(1) of the Criminal Code, section 9 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, section 126.2 of the Excise Act, section 163.2 of the Customs Act or section 5 of the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act.
``officer'' « agent »	``officer'' has the same meaning as in subsection 2(1) of the Customs Act.
``prescribed'' Version anglaise seulement	``prescribed'' means prescribed by regulations made by the Governor in Council.
	OBJECT OF ACT
Object	3. The object of this Act is
	(a) to implement specific measures to detect and deter money laundering and to facilitate the investigation and prosecution of money laundering offences, including
	(i) establishing record keeping and client identification requirements for financial services providers and other persons that engage in businesses, professions or activities that are susceptible to being used for money laundering,
	(ii) requiring the reporting of suspicious financial transactions and of cross-border movements of currency and monetary instruments, and
	(iii) establishing an agency that is responsible for dealing with reported and other information;
	(b) to respond to the threat posed by organized crime by providing law enforcement officials with the information they need to deprive criminals of the proceeds of their criminal activities, while ensuring that appropriate safeguards are put in place to protect the privacy of persons with respect to personal information about themselves; and
	(c) to assist in fulfilling Canada's international commitments to participate in the fight against transnational crime, particularly money laundering.
	HER MAJESTY
Binding on Her Majesty	4. This Act is binding on Her Majesty in right of Canada or a province.
	PART 1
	RECORD KEEPING AND REPORTING OF SUSPICIOUS TRANSACTIONS
	Application
Application of Part	5. This Part applies to the following persons and entities:
	(a) banks to which the Bank Act applies;
	(b) cooperative credit societies, credit unions and caisses populaires regulated by a provincial Act and associations regulated by the Cooperative Credit Associations Act;
	(c) life companies or foreign life companies to which the Insurance Companies Act applies or life insurance companies regulated by a provincial Act;
	(d) companies to which the Trust and Loan Companies Act applies;
	(e) trust companies regulated by a provincial Act;
	(f) loan companies regulated by a provincial Act;
	(g) persons engaged in the business of dealing in securities, including portfolio management and investment counselling;
	(h) persons engaged in the business of foreign exchange dealing;
	(i) persons engaged in a business, a profession or an activity described in regulations made under paragraph 12(1)(a);
	(j) prescribed departments and agents of Her Majesty in right of Canada or of a province, and prescribed entities controlled by Her Majesty in either of those rights, that are engaged in a business that is similar to the business engaged in by a person or an entity referred to in any of paragraphs (a) to (i); and
	(k) for the purposes of sections 7 to 10, employees of a person or an entity referred to in any of paragraphs (a) to (j).
	Record Keeping
Duties	6. Every person or entity shall keep and retain records that relate to financial activities in accordance with the regulations made under subsection 12(1).
	Reporting
Transactions if reasonable grounds to suspect	7. Every person or entity shall report to the Centre, in the prescribed form and manner, every financial transaction that occurs in the course of their activities and in respect of which there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the transaction is related to the commission of a money laundering offence.
No disclosure of reports	8. No person or entity shall disclose that they have made a report under section 7, or disclose the contents of such a report, with the intent to prejudice a criminal investigation, whether or not a criminal investigation has begun.
Transactions indicative of money laundering	9. (1) Every person or entity shall report to the Centre, in the prescribed form and manner, every prescribed financial transaction that occurs in the course of their activities.
Limitation	(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to prescribed persons or entities or classes of persons or entities in respect of prescribed transactions, classes of transactions, clients or classes of clients, if the prescribed conditions are met.
List of persons	(3) Every person or entity shall maintain a list, in the prescribed form and manner, of their clients in respect of whom a report would have been required under subsection (1) were it not for subsection (2). However, a person or an entity may choose to report a client's transactions under subsection (1) instead of maintaining the list in respect of that client.
Immunity	10. No criminal or civil proceedings lie against a person or an entity for making a report in good faith under section 7 or 9.
Solicitor-clien t privilege	11. Nothing in this Part requires a lawyer to disclose any communication that is subject to solicitor-client privilege.
	Regulations
Regulations	12. (1) The Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister, make regulations
	(a) describing businesses, professions and activities for the purpose of paragraph 5(i);
	(b) specifying the types of records to be kept and retained under section 6 and the information to be included in them;
	(c) specifying the period for which, and the methods by which, records referred to in paragraph (b) are to be retained;
	(d) specifying measures that persons or entities are to take to ascertain the identity of their clients, if the transaction is one in respect of which this Part applies;
	(e) prescribing anything that by any provision of this Part is to be prescribed; and
	(f) generally for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Part.
Publication of proposed regulations	(2) Subject to subsection (3), a copy of each regulation that the Governor in Council proposes to make under subsection (1) shall be published in the Canada Gazette at least 90 days before its proposed effective date, and a reasonable opportunity shall be given to interested persons within those 90 days to make representations to the Minister with respect to the proposed regulation.
Publication of changes	(3) When a regulation under this Act is changed during the 90-day period referred to in subsection (2), the regulation shall be published in the Canada Gazette at least 30 days before its proposed effective date.
	PART 2
	REPORTING OF CURRENCY AND MONETARY INSTRUMENTS
	Reporting
Currency and monetary instruments	13. (1) If currency or monetary instruments of a value greater than the prescribed amount are imported into or exported from Canada, the person or entity referred to in subsection (3) shall report the activity to an officer in accordance with the regulations.
Limitation	(2) A person or entity is not required to make a report under subsection (1) in respect of an activity if the prescribed conditions are met in respect of the person, entity or activity, and if the person or entity satisfies an officer that those conditions have been met.
Who must report	(3) Currency or monetary instruments shall be reported under subsection (1)
	(a) in the case of currency or monetary instruments in the actual possession of a person arriving in or departing from Canada, or that form part of their baggage if they and their baggage are being carried on board the same conveyance, by that person;
	(b) in the case of currency or monetary instruments imported into Canada by courier or as mail, by the exporter of the currency or monetary instruments or, on receiving notice under subsection 15(2), by the importer;
	(c) in the case of currency or monetary instruments exported from Canada by courier or as mail, by the exporter of the currency or monetary instruments;
	(d) in the case of currency or monetary instruments, other than those referred to in paragraph (a) or imported or exported as mail, that are on board a conveyance arriving in or departing from Canada, by the person in charge of the conveyance; and
	(e) in any other case, by the person on whose behalf the currency or monetary instruments are imported or exported.
Duty to answer and comply with the request of an officer	(4) If a report is made in respect of currency or monetary instruments, the person arriving in or departing from Canada with the currency or monetary instruments shall
	(a) answer truthfully any questions that the officer asks with respect to the information required to be contained in the report; and
	(b) on request of an officer, present the currency or monetary instruments that they are carrying or transporting, unload any conveyance or part of a conveyance or baggage and open or unpack any package or container that the officer wishes to examine.
Sending reports to Centre	(5) Officers shall send the reports they receive under subsection (1) to the Centre.
Decision not to proceed with importing or exporting	14. A person or an entity that is required to report currency or monetary instruments may, at any time before they are retained under subsection 15(1) or forfeited as a result of a contravention of subsection 13(1), decide not to proceed further with importing or exporting them.

Bill C-81

BILL C-81