Bill C-10

62-63 ELIZABETH II

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CHAPTER 23

An Act to amend the Criminal Code (trafficking in contraband tobacco)

[Assented to 6th November, 2014]

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 Tackling Contraband Tobacco Act.

CRIMINAL CODE

2. Paragraph (g) of the definition “Attorney General” in section 2 of the Criminal Code is replaced by the following:

(g) with respect to proceedings in relation to an offence referred to in sections 121.1, 380, 382, 382.1 and 400, means either the Attorney General of Canada or the Attorney General or Solicitor General of the province in which those proceedings are taken and includes the lawful deputy of any of them;

3. The Act is amended by adding the following after section 121:

121.1 (1) No person shall sell, offer for sale, transport, deliver, distribute or have in their possession for the purpose of sale a tobacco product, or raw leaf tobacco that is not packaged, unless it is stamped. The terms “tobacco product”, “raw leaf tobacco”, “packaged” and “stamped” have the same meanings as in section 2 of the Excise Act, 2001.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply in any of the circumstances described in any of subsections 30(2) and 32(2) and (3) of the Excise Act, 2001.

(3) A tobacco grower does not contravene subsection (1) by reason only that they have in their possession raw leaf tobacco described in paragraph 31(a), (b) or (c) of the Excise Act, 2001.

(4) Every person who contravenes subsection (1)

(a) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years and, if the amount of tobacco product is 10,000 cigarettes or more or 10 kg or more of any other tobacco product, or the amount of raw leaf tobacco is 10 kg or more,

(i) in the case of a second offence, to a minimum punishment of imprisonment for a term of 90 days,

(ii) in the case of a third offence, to a minimum punishment of imprisonment for a term of 180 days, and

(iii) in the case of a fourth or subsequent offence, to a minimum punishment of imprisonment for a term of two years less a day; or

(b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than six months.

(5) For the purpose of determining whether a convicted person has committed a second or subsequent offence, an offence under this section for which the person was previously convicted is considered to be an earlier offence whether it was prosecuted by indictment or by way of summary conviction proceedings.

COMING INTO FORCE

4. This Act comes into force on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.