Criminal Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46)

Marginal note:Execution in Canada

188.1 An authorization given under section 184.2, 186 or 188 may be executed at any place in Canada. Any peace officer who executes the authorization must have authority to act as a peace officer in the place where it is executed.

Marginal note:No civil or criminal liability

188.2 No person who acts in accordance with an authorization or under section 184.1 or 184.4 or who aids, in good faith, a person who he or she believes on reasonable grounds is acting in accordance with an authorization or under one of those sections incurs any criminal or civil liability for anything reasonably done further to the authorization or to that section.

• 189 (1) to (4) [Repealed, 1993, c. 40, s. 10]

• Marginal note:Notice of intention to produce evidence

  (5) The contents of a private communication that is obtained from an interception of the private communication pursuant to any provision of, or pursuant to an authorization given under, this Part shall not be received in evidence unless the party intending to adduce it has given to the accused reasonable notice of the intention together with

  • (a) a transcript of the private communication, where it will be adduced in the form of a recording, or a statement setting out full particulars of the private communication, where evidence of the private communication will be given viva voce; and

  • (b) a statement respecting the time, place and date of the private communication and the parties thereto, if known.

• Marginal note:Privileged evidence

  (6) Any information obtained by an interception that, but for the interception, would have been privileged remains privileged and inadmissible as evidence without the consent of the person enjoying the privilege.

Marginal note:Further particulars

190 Where an accused has been given notice pursuant to subsection 189(5), any judge of the court in which the trial of the accused is being or is to be held may at any time order that further particulars be given of the private communication that is intended to be adduced in evidence.

Marginal note:Possession, etc.

• 191 (1) Every person who possesses, sells or purchases any electro-magnetic, acoustic, mechanical or other device or any component of it knowing that its design renders it primarily useful for surreptitious interception of private communications is guilty of

  • (a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years; or

  • (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

• Marginal note:Exemptions

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to

  • (a) a police officer in possession of a device or component described in subsection (1) in the course of his employment;

  • (b) a person in possession of such a device or component for the purpose of using it in an interception made or to be made in accordance with an authorization;

  • (b.1) a person in possession of such a device or component under the direction of a police officer in order to assist that officer in the course of his duties as a police officer;

  • (c) an officer or a servant of Her Majesty in right of Canada or a member of the Canadian Forces in possession of such a device or component in the course of his duties as such an officer, servant or member, as the case may be; and

  • (d) any other person in possession of such a device or component under the authority of a licence issued by the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

• Marginal note:Terms and conditions of licence

  (3) A licence issued for the purpose of paragraph (2)(d) may contain such terms and conditions relating to the possession, sale or purchase of a device or component described in subsection (1) as the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness may prescribe.

Marginal note:Forfeiture

• 192 (1) Where a person is convicted of an offence under section 184 or 191, any electro-magnetic, acoustic, mechanical or other device by means of which the offence was committed or the possession of which constituted the offence, on the conviction, in addition to any punishment that is imposed, may be ordered forfeited to Her Majesty whereupon it may be disposed of as the Attorney General directs.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (2) No order for forfeiture shall be made under subsection (1) in respect of telephone, telegraph or other communication facilities or equipment owned by a person engaged in providing telephone, telegraph or other communication service to the public or forming part of the telephone, telegraph or other communication service or system of that person by means of which an offence under section 184 has been committed if that person was not a party to the offence.

Marginal note:Disclosure of information

• 193 (1) If a private communication has been intercepted by means of an electro-magnetic, acoustic, mechanical or other device without the consent, express or implied, of the originator of that communication or of the person intended by the originator to receive it, every person commits an offence who, without the express consent of the originator of that communication or of the person intended to receive it, knowingly

  • (a) uses or discloses the private communication or any part of it or the substance, meaning or purpose of it or of any part of it, or

  • (b) discloses the existence of the private communication.

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (1.1) Every person who commits an offence under subsection (1) is guilty of

  • (a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years; or

  • (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

• Marginal note:Exemptions

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a person who discloses a private communication or any part thereof or the substance, meaning or purport thereof or of any part thereof or who discloses the existence of a private communication

  • (a) in the course of or for the purpose of giving evidence in any civil or criminal proceedings or in any other proceedings in which the person may be required to give evidence on oath;

  • (b) in the course of or for the purpose of any criminal investigation if the private communication was lawfully intercepted;

  • (c) in giving notice under section 189 or furnishing further particulars pursuant to an order under section 190;

  • (d) in the course of the operation of

    • (i) a telephone, telegraph or other communication service to the public,

    • (ii) a department or an agency of the Government of Canada, or

    • (iii) services relating to the management or protection of a computer system, as defined in subsection 342.1(2),

    if the disclosure is necessarily incidental to an interception described in paragraph 184(2)(c), (d) or (e);

  • (e) where disclosure is made to a peace officer or prosecutor in Canada or to a person or authority with responsibility in a foreign state for the investigation or prosecution of offences and is intended to be in the interests of the administration of justice in Canada or elsewhere; or

  • (f) where the disclosure is made to the Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service or to an employee of the Service for the purpose of enabling the Service to perform its duties and functions under section 12 of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act.

• Marginal note:Publishing of prior lawful disclosure

  (3) Subsection (1) does not apply to a person who discloses a private communication or any part thereof or the substance, meaning or purport thereof or of any part thereof or who discloses the existence of a private communication where that which is disclosed by him was, prior to the disclosure, lawfully disclosed in the course of or for the purpose of giving evidence in proceedings referred to in paragraph (2)(a).

Marginal note:Disclosure of information received from interception of radio-based telephone communications

• 193.1 (1) Every person who knowingly uses or discloses a radio-based telephone communication or who knowingly discloses the existence of such a communication is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction, if

  • (a) the originator of the communication or the person intended by the originator of the communication to receive it was in Canada when the communication was made;

  • (b) the communication was intercepted by means of an electromagnetic, acoustic, mechanical or other device without the consent, express or implied, of the originator of the communication or of the person intended by the originator to receive the communication; and

  • (c) the person does not have the express or implied consent of the originator of the communication or of the person intended by the originator to receive the communication.

• Marginal note:Other provisions to apply

  (2) Subsections 193(2) and (3) apply, with such modifications as the circumstances require, to disclosures of radio-based telephone communications.

Marginal note:Damages

• 194 (1) Subject to subsection (2), a court that convicts an accused of an offence under section 184, 184.5, 193 or 193.1 may, on the application of a person aggrieved, at the time sentence is imposed, order the accused to pay to that person an amount not exceeding five thousand dollars as punitive damages.

• Marginal note:No damages where civil proceedings commenced

  (2) No amount shall be ordered to be paid under subsection (1) to a person who has commenced an action under Part II of the Crown Liability Act.

• Marginal note:Judgment may be registered

  (3) Where an amount that is ordered to be paid under subsection (1) is not paid forthwith, the applicant may, by filing the order, enter as a judgment, in the superior court of the province in which the trial was held, the amount ordered to be paid, and that judgment is enforceable against the accused in the same manner as if it were a judgment rendered against the accused in that court in civil proceedings.

• Marginal note:Moneys in possession of accused may be taken

  (4) All or any part of an amount that is ordered to be paid under subsection (1) may be taken out of moneys found in the possession of the accused at the time of his arrest, except where there is a dispute respecting ownership of or right of possession to those moneys by claimants other than the accused.

Marginal note:Annual report

• 195 (1) The Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness shall, as soon as possible after the end of each year, prepare a report relating to

  • (a) authorizations for which that Minister and agents specially designated in writing by that Minister for the purposes of section 185 applied and the interceptions made under those authorizations in the immediately preceding year;

  • (b) authorizations given under section 188 for which peace officers specially designated by that Minister for the purposes of that section applied and the interceptions made under those authorizations in the immediately preceding year; and

  • (c) interceptions made under section 184.4 in the immediately preceding year if the interceptions relate to an offence for which proceedings may be commenced by the Attorney General of Canada.

• Marginal note:Information respecting authorizations — sections 185 and 188

  (2) The report shall, in relation to the authorizations and interceptions referred to in paragraphs (1)(a) and (b), set out

  • (a) the number of applications made for authorizations;

  • (b) the number of applications made for renewal of authorizations;

  • (c) the number of applications referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b) that were granted, the number of those applications that were refused and the number of applications referred to in paragraph (a) that were granted subject to terms and conditions;

  • (d) the number of persons identified in an authorization against whom proceedings were commenced at the instance of the Attorney General of Canada in respect of

    • (i) an offence specified in the authorization,

    • (ii) an offence other than an offence specified in the authorization but in respect of which an authorization may be given, and

    • (iii) an offence in respect of which an authorization may not be given;

  • (e) the number of persons not identified in an authorization against whom proceedings were commenced at the instance of the Attorney General of Canada in respect of

    • (i) an offence specified in such an authorization,

    • (ii) an offence other than an offence specified in such an authorization but in respect of which an authorization may be given, and

    • (iii) an offence other than an offence specified in such an authorization and for which no such authorization may be given,

    and whose commission or alleged commission of the offence became known to a peace officer as a result of an interception of a private communication under an authorization;

  • (f) the average period for which authorizations were given and for which renewals thereof were granted;

  • (g) the number of authorizations that, by virtue of one or more renewals thereof, were valid for more than sixty days, for more than one hundred and twenty days, for more than one hundred and eighty days and for more than two hundred and forty days;

  • (h) the number of notifications given pursuant to section 196;

  • (i) the offences in respect of which authorizations were given, specifying the number of authorizations given in respect of each of those offences;

  • (j) a description of all classes of places specified in authorizations and the number of authorizations in which each of those classes of places was specified;

  • (k) a general description of the methods of interception involved in each interception under an authorization;

  • (l) the number of persons arrested whose identity became known to a peace officer as a result of an interception under an authorization;

  • (m) the number of criminal proceedings commenced at the instance of the Attorney General of Canada in which private communications obtained by interception under an authorization were adduced in evidence and the number of those proceedings that resulted in a conviction; and

  • (n) the number of criminal investigations in which information obtained as a result of the interception of a private communication under an authorization was used although the private communication was not adduced in evidence in criminal proceedings commenced at the instance of the Attorney General of Canada as a result of the investigations.

• Marginal note:Information respecting interceptions — section 184.4

  (2.1) The report shall, in relation to the interceptions referred to in paragraph (1)(c), set out

  • (a) the number of interceptions made;

  • (b) the number of parties to each intercepted private communication against whom proceedings were commenced in respect of the offence that the police officer sought to prevent in intercepting the private communication or in respect of any other offence that was detected as a result of the interception;

  • (c) the number of persons who were not parties to an intercepted private communication but whose commission or alleged commission of an offence became known to a police officer as a result of the interception of a private communication, and against whom proceedings were commenced in respect of the offence that the police officer sought to prevent in intercepting the private communication or in respect of any other offence that was detected as a result of the interception;

  • (d) the number of notifications given under section 196.1;

  • (e) the offences in respect of which interceptions were made and any other offences for which proceedings were commenced as a result of an interception, as well as the number of interceptions made with respect to each offence;

  • (f) a general description of the methods of interception used for each interception;

  • (g) the number of persons arrested whose identity became known to a police officer as a result of an interception;

  • (h) the number of criminal proceedings commenced in which private communications obtained by interception were adduced in evidence and the number of those proceedings that resulted in a conviction;

  • (i) the number of criminal investigations in which information obtained as a result of the interception of a private communication was used even though the private communication was not adduced in evidence in criminal proceedings commenced as a result of the investigations; and

  • (j) the duration of each interception and the aggregate duration of all the interceptions related to the investigation of the offence that the police officer sought to prevent in intercepting the private communication.

• Marginal note:Other information

  (3) The report shall, in addition to the information referred to in subsections (2) and (2.1), set out

  • (a) the number of prosecutions commenced against officers or servants of Her Majesty in right of Canada or members of the Canadian Forces for offences under section 184 or 193; and

  • (b) a general assessment of the importance of interception of private communications for the investigation, detection, prevention and prosecution of offences in Canada.

• Marginal note:Report to be laid before Parliament

  (4) The Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness shall cause a copy of each report prepared by him under subsection (1) to be laid before Parliament forthwith on completion thereof, or if Parliament is not then sitting, on any of the first fifteen days next thereafter that Parliament is sitting.

• Marginal note:Report by Attorneys General

  (5) The Attorney General of each province shall, as soon as possible after the end of each year, prepare and publish or otherwise make available to the public a report relating to

  • (a) authorizations for which the Attorney General and agents specially designated in writing by the Attorney General for the purposes of section 185 applied and to the interceptions made under those authorizations in the immediately preceding year;

  • (b) authorizations given under section 188 for which peace officers specially designated by the Attorney General for the purposes of that section applied and to the interceptions made under those authorizations in the immediately preceding year; and

  • (c) interceptions made under section 184.4 in the immediately preceding year, if the interceptions relate to an offence not referred to in paragraph (1)(c).

  The report must set out, with any modifications that the circumstances require, the information described in subsections (2) to (3).