Excise Tax Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. E-15)

Marginal note:Minister’s duty

• 275. (1) The Minister shall administer and enforce this Part and the Commissioner may exercise all the powers and perform the duties of the Minister under this Part.

• Marginal note:Officers and employees

  (2) Such officers, agents and employees as are necessary to administer and enforce this Part shall be appointed or employed in the manner authorized by law.

• Marginal note:Delegation of powers

  (3) The Minister may authorize a designated officer or agent or a class of officers or agents to exercise powers or perform duties of the Minister under this Part.

• Marginal note:Administration of oaths

  (4) Any officer or employee employed in connection with the administration or enforcement of this Part, if designated by the Minister for the purpose, may administer oaths and take and receive affidavits, declarations and affirmations for the purposes of or incidental to the administration or enforcement of this Part or regulations made under this Part, and every officer or employee so designated has for those purposes all the powers of a commissioner for administering oaths or taking affidavits.

Marginal note:Inquiry

• 276. (1) The Minister may, for any purpose related to the administration or enforcement of this Part, authorize any person, whether or not the person is an officer of the Agency, to make such inquiry as the Minister may deem necessary with reference to anything relating to the administration or enforcement of this Part.

• Marginal note:Appointment of hearing officer

  (2) Where the Minister, under subsection (1), authorizes a person to make an inquiry, the Minister shall forthwith apply to the Tax Court for an order appointing a hearing officer before whom the inquiry will be held.

• Marginal note:Powers of hearing officer

  (3) For the purposes of an inquiry authorized under subsection (1), a hearing officer appointed under subsection (2) in relation thereto has all the powers conferred on a commissioner by sections 4 and 5 of the Inquiries Act and that may be conferred on a commissioner under section 11 of that Act.

• Marginal note:When powers to be exercised

  (4) A hearing officer appointed under subsection (2) in relation to an inquiry shall exercise the powers conferred on a commissioner by section 4 of the Inquiries Act in relation to such persons as the person authorized to make the inquiry considers appropriate for the conduct thereof, but the hearing officer shall not exercise the power to punish any person unless, on application by the hearing officer, a judge of a superior or county court certifies that the power may be exercised in the matter disclosed in the application and the applicant has given to the person in respect of whom the power is proposed to be exercised twenty-four hours notice of the hearing of the application, or such shorter notice as the judge considers reasonable.

• Marginal note:Rights of witnesses

  (5) Any person who gives evidence in an inquiry authorized under subsection (1) is entitled to be represented by counsel and, on request made by the person to the Minister, to receive a transcript of that evidence.

• Marginal note:Rights of person investigated

  (6) Any person whose affairs are investigated in the course of an inquiry authorized under subsection (1) is entitled to be present and to be represented by counsel throughout the inquiry unless the hearing officer appointed under subsection (2), on application by the Minister or a person giving evidence, orders otherwise in relation to the whole or any part of the inquiry, on the ground that the presence of the person and the person’s counsel, or either of them, would be prejudicial to the effective conduct of the inquiry.