Oil Tanker Moratorium Act (S.C. 2019, c. 26)

Marginal note:Direction not to moor or anchor

8 If the Minister has reasonable grounds to believe that the master of an oil tanker has failed to comply with subsection 7(1) or (4), the Minister may direct the oil tanker not to moor or anchor at a port or marine installation that is within the area described in subsection 4(1).

Designated Persons

Marginal note:Designation

• 9 (1) The Minister may designate any person or member of a class of persons for the purposes of the administration and enforcement of this Act.

• Marginal note:Certificate of designation

  (2) The Minister must provide every designated person with a certificate of their designation.

• Marginal note:Immunity

  (3) A designated person is not personally liable for anything they do or omit to do in good faith under this Act.

Powers

Marginal note:Direction to provide information — oil tankers

• 10 (1) A designated person may direct an oil tanker that is within the area described in subsection 4(1) to provide any information that the designated person reasonably requires for the purposes of this Act if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the oil tanker is or will be

  • (a) unloading any oil from its hold at a port that is within that area or to a marine installation that is within that area; or

  • (b) loading into its hold any oil that is at a port or marine installation that is within that area.

• Marginal note:Direction to provide information — persons and vessels

  (2) A designated person may direct a person or a vessel to provide any information that the designated person reasonably requires for the purposes of this Act if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person or the vessel is or will be transporting, by water,

  • (a) from an oil tanker that is within the area described in subsection 4(1) to a port or marine installation that is within that area, any oil that the oil tanker is carrying in its hold; or

  • (b) from a port or marine installation that is within the area described in subsection 4(1) to an oil tanker that is within that area, any oil.

Marginal note:Authority to enter a place

• 11 (1) A designated person may, for a purpose related to verifying compliance with this Act, enter

  • (a) any vessel that is at a port or marine installation that is within the area described in subsection 4(1), if the designated person has reasonable grounds to believe that the vessel is carrying oil as cargo;

  • (b) any marine installation that is within the area described in subsection 4(1), if the designated person has reasonable grounds to believe that oil is located there; and

  • (c) any other place, if the place is at a port that is within the area described in subsection 4(1) and the designated person has reasonable grounds to believe that there is, located in that place, oil that is to be loaded onto a vessel as cargo or oil that was unloaded from a vessel that was carrying it as cargo.

• Marginal note:Living quarters

  (2) A designated person is not permitted to enter living quarters without the occupant’s consent.

• Marginal note:Powers on entry

  (3) The designated person may, for the purpose referred to in subsection (1),

  • (a) examine anything in the place;

  • (b) use any means of communication in the place or cause it to be used;

  • (c) use any computer system in the place, or cause it to be used, to examine data contained in or available to it;

  • (d) prepare or cause to be prepared any record, in the form of a print-out or other intelligible output, from the data;

  • (e) use any copying equipment in the place or cause it to be used;

  • (f) conduct tests or analyses of anything in the place;

  • (g) take measurements or samples of anything in the place;

  • (h) take photographs or make recordings or sketches of anything in the place;

  • (i) remove anything from the place for the purpose of examination, testing or copying;

  • (j) direct any person to put anything in the place into operation or to cease operating it; and

  • (k) prohibit or limit access to all or part of the place or to anything in the place.

• Marginal note:Entry on private property

  (4) The designated person and any person accompanying them may enter private property – other than a dwelling-house – and pass through it in order to gain entry to the place. For greater certainty, they are not liable for doing so.

• Marginal note:Stoppage or relocation

  (5) A designated person may, for the purpose of entering a vessel that is at a port or marine installation that is within the area described in subsection 4(1), direct the master

  • (a) to stop the vessel or proceed to the place that the designated person may select, and to moor or anchor or remain there; or

  • (b) to not move the vessel.

General

Marginal note:Duty to assist

12 The owner, the operator, the master and any agent or charterer of a vessel that is entered under subsection 11(1) and the owner and the operator of a marine installation or any other place that is entered under that subsection, as well as every person who is found there, must give a designated person who is carrying out powers or functions under section 11 all reasonable assistance and provide them with any information that they may reasonably require.

Marginal note:Disposition of samples

• 13 (1) A designated person who takes a sample under paragraph 11(3)(g) may dispose of it in any manner that they consider appropriate or may submit it for analysis or examination to any person the Minister considers appropriate.

• Marginal note:Certificate or report

  (2) A person who has made an analysis or examination may issue a certificate or report that sets out the results of the analysis or examination.

• Marginal note:Certificate or report admissible in evidence

  (3) Subject to subsections (4) and (5), the certificate or the report is admissible in evidence in any prosecution for an offence under this Act and, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, is proof of the statements contained in it without proof of the signature or official character of the person appearing to have signed it.

• Marginal note:Attendance of person

  (4) The party against whom the certificate or the report is produced may, with leave of the court, require for the purposes of cross-examination the attendance of the person who issued it.

• Marginal note:Notice

  (5) The certificate or the report may be admitted in evidence only if the party who intends to produce it has given to the party against whom it is intended to be produced reasonable notice of that intention, together with a copy of the certificate or the report.

Marginal note:Return of anything removed

14 Anything removed under paragraph 11(3)(i) must be returned as soon as feasible after it is no longer required for the purpose for which it was taken.

Marginal note:Obstruction

15 It is prohibited for a person to knowingly give false or misleading information either orally or in writing to, or otherwise obstruct or hinder, a designated person who is carrying out powers or functions under this Act.

Marginal note:Interference

16 Unless authorized by a designated person, it is prohibited for a person to remove, alter or interfere in any way with a sample taken under paragraph 11(3)(g) or anything removed under paragraph 11(3)(i).

Detention of Vessels

Marginal note:Detention order

• 17 (1) A designated person may order the detention of a vessel if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the vessel has committed an offence under this Act.

• Marginal note:Order in writing

  (2) A detention order must be in writing and be addressed to every person empowered to grant clearance to the vessel.

• Marginal note:Notice of detention order

  (3) Notice of a detention order must be served on the master of the vessel

  • (a) by delivering a copy of the notice personally to the master; or

  • (b) if service cannot reasonably be effected in the manner provided in paragraph (a), by leaving a copy of the notice with the person who is, or appears to be, in charge of the vessel or, if there is no such person, by fixing a copy of the notice to a prominent part of the vessel.

• Marginal note:Movement of vessel prohibited

  (4) Subject to section 19, it is prohibited for a person to move a vessel that is subject to a detention order.

• Marginal note:Granting clearance prohibited

  (5) Subject to subsection (6), it is prohibited for a person to whom a detention order is addressed, after they have received notice of the order, to grant clearance to the vessel that is subject to the order.

• Marginal note:Granting clearance

  (6) A person to whom a detention order is addressed who has received notice of the order must grant clearance to the vessel that is subject to the order if

  • (a) security in an amount and a form satisfactory to the Minister is given to Her Majesty in right of Canada;

  • (b) the vessel has not been charged with an offence under this Act within 30 days after the day on which the order was made; or

  • (c) the vessel has been charged with an offence under this Act within 30 days after the day on which the order was made and

    • (i) security in a form satisfactory to the Minister for payment of the maximum fine that might be imposed for that offence, or payment of any lesser amount that is satisfactory to the Minister, is given to Her Majesty in right of Canada, or

    • (ii) proceedings in respect of that offence are discontinued.

• Marginal note:Notification of foreign state

  (7) If the vessel that is subject to a detention order is registered in a foreign state, that state is to be notified that the order was made.

• Marginal note:Liability for expenses

  (8) The authorized representative of a vessel that is subject to a detention order or, if there is no authorized representative, the vessel’s owner is liable for all expenses incurred in respect of the detention.