Bill C-209

1st Session, 40th Parliament,

57 Elizabeth II, 2008

house of commons of canada

BILL C-209

An Act to prevent the use of the Internet to distribute pornographic material involving children

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

SHORT TITLE

1. This Act may be cited as the Internet Child Pornography Prevention Act.

INTERPRETATION

2. The definitions in this section apply in this Act.

“child pornography” has the same meaning as in section 163.1 of the Criminal Code.

“Commission” means the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission established by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Act.

“designated offence involving a child” means an offence under any of the following provisions of the Criminal Code, where the victim was 14 years of age or more but under the age of 18 years at the time of the commission of the offence, and the offender was in a position of trust or authority towards the victim or was a person with whom the victim was in a relationship of dependency or where the victim was under the age of 14 years at the time of the commission of the offence:

(a) section 151 (sexual interference);

(b) section 152 (invitation to sexual touching);

(c) section 153 (sexual exploitation);

(d) section 155 (incest);

(e) section 159 (anal intercourse);

(f) subsection 160(2) or (3) (compelling commission of bestiality or bestiality in presence of or by child);

(g) section 170 (parent or guardian procuring sexual activity);

(h) section 172 (corrupting children);

(i) subsection 173(2) (exposure to person under age of 16 years);

(j) section 271 (sexual assault);

(k) section 272 (sexual assault with a weapon, threats to a third party or causing bodily harm); and

(l) section 273 (aggravated sexual assault).

“Internet service provider” means a person who provides a service that facilitates access to the Internet, whether or not the service is provided free or for a charge.

“Minister” means the Minister of Industry.

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulation.

“subscriber” means a person who contracts with or uses the services of an Internet service provider to obtain access to the Internet.

PURPOSE

3. The purpose of this Act is to prevent the use of the Internet to unlawfully promote, display, describe or facilitate participation in unlawful sexual activity involving young persons.

LICENCE

4. (1) No person shall offer the services of, or operate as, an Internet service provider unless the person has been granted a licence to operate as an Internet service provider in accordance with subsection (2).

(2) The Commission shall grant a licence to operate as an Internet service provider to any applicant who meets the prescribed requirements and who has submitted to the Commission

(a) an application in the prescribed form and manner; and

(b) a written undertaking to report the prescribed information in accordance with the regulations.

(3) The Commission may cancel a licence granted under subsection (2) if the licensee or, where the licensee is a corporation, a director or officer of the corporation is convicted of an offence under section 163.1 of the Criminal Code or a designated offence involving a child, or commits an offence under this Act.

PROHIBITION

5. (1) No Internet service provider shall knowingly permit the use of its service

(a) for placing child pornography on the Internet or for viewing, reading, copying or retrieving child pornography from the Internet;

(b) by any person who the provider knows has been convicted of an offence under this Act within the previous seven years; or

(c) by any person who the provider knows has used the Internet within the previous seven years for a purpose that would be an offence under this Act.

(2) No person shall place child pornography on the Internet for the purpose of communicating it to another person or making it accessible to another person for viewing, reading, copying or retrieval, whether such access is open or restricted by any means.

(3) No person shall possess any child pornography retrieved from the Internet.

(4) No person shall use the Internet to contact a person for the purpose of facilitating a designated offence involving a child.

(5) No person shall respond to a contact that is made using the Internet for the purpose of facilitating a designated offence involving a child.

OFFENCE

6. (1) A person who contravenes subsection 5(1), (2), (3), (4) or (5) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both.

(2) A director or officer of a corporation that commits an offence under subsection (1) who is aware of the circumstances on which the offence is based before it is committed, or becomes aware of them while it is being committed, is also guilty of the offence and liable to the punishments provided in subsection (1).

(3) An Internet service provider is not guilty of an offence under subsection (1) if, immediately after becoming aware that a person is using its service to commit an offence under this Act, the provider

(a) terminates its service to that person;

(b) takes all reasonable steps to remove or prevent access to any material unlawfully placed on the Internet by that person; and

(c) advises the Minister of the identity of that person, the nature of the material and the means whereby it may be accessed by others.

7. The Minister may order an Internet service provider to use all means that are reasonably available to the Internet service provider to prevent access by its subscribers to any material on the Internet that the Minister, after reasonable inquiry, determines to be child pornography.

8. (1) An Internet service provider who refuses or fails to comply with an order made under section 7 is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both.

(2) A director or officer of a corporation that is an Internet service provider that commits an offence under subsection (1) is also guilty of the offence and liable to the punishments provided in subsection (1).

AGREEMENTS

9. The Minister may enter into agreements with a province or a foreign state relating to the exchange of information and co-operation to prevent or minimize the use of the Internet for the publication or proliferation of child pornography or for facilitating the commission of an offence under the Criminal Code or this Act or a similar law of the province or foreign state.

WARRANTS

10. (1) The Minister may prescribe any special powers that are reasonably necessary in the opinion of the Minister to facilitate searches of electronic data or systems or storage in the execution of a search warrant issued under section 487 of the Criminal Code in respect of an offence or suspected offence under this Act.

(2) A warrant conferring any powers prescribed under subsection (1) is subject to the same principles respecting authorization and grounds for suspicion as, and to the procedures and conditions required in respect of, a search warrant under the Criminal Code.

REGULATIONS

11. The Minister may make regulations prescribing

(a) the form and manner of making an application for a licence under section 4;

(b) any financial and technical resources that an applicant must show to the Commission in order to be granted a licence under section 4;

(c) any information that a person who is granted a licence under section 4 is required to report to the Commission for the purposes of this Act;

(d) any special powers that may be conferred by a search warrant for the purposes of subsection 10(1); and

(e) anything that by this Act is to be prescribed.