Customs Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. 1 (2nd Supp.))

Marginal note:Detention of imported or exported goods

• 97.25 (1) Any goods that are to be exported, that have been reported under section 95 or that have been imported, by or on behalf of a debtor, are subject to a lien or hypothec for the amount owed by the debtor and may be detained by an officer at the expense of the debtor until that amount is paid.

• Marginal note:Conveyances

  (2) Any conveyance used for the importation or exportation of goods in respect of which a notice has been served under section 109.3 is subject to a lien or hypothec for the amount owed by the debtor and may be detained by an officer at the expense of the person on whom the notice was served until the amount set out in the notice is paid.

• Marginal note:Sale of detained goods

  (3) Subject to the regulations, the Minister, on giving 30 days’ notice in writing to the debtor at the debtor’s latest known address, may direct that any good imported or to be exported, or any good reported under section 95, by or on behalf of the debtor, or any conveyance, that has been detained be sold

  • (a) if the good is spirits or specially denatured alcohol, to a spirits licensee;

  • (b) if the good is wine, to a wine licensee;

  • (c) if the good is raw leaf tobacco or a tobacco product, to a tobacco licensee;

  • (c.1) if the good is a vaping product, to a vaping product licensee;

  • (d) if the good is a restricted formulation, to a licensed user; or

  • (e) in any other case, by public auction or public tender or by the Minister of Public Works and Government Services under the Surplus Crown Assets Act.

• Marginal note:Excise stamps not to be sold

  (3.1) Despite subsection (3), the Minister shall not direct that detained excise stamps be sold.

• Marginal note:Proceeds of sale

  (4) The proceeds of any sale shall be applied to amounts owed by the debtor, any expenses incurred by Her Majesty in right of Canada in respect of the goods sold and any duties on the goods and the surplus, if any, shall be paid to the debtor.

Marginal note:Set-off

97.26 The Minister may require that an amount specified by the Minister be deducted from or set-off against an amount that is or may become payable to a debtor by Her Majesty in Right of Canada. If an amount payable to a person under a provision of this Act has at any time been deducted or set-off, the amount is deemed to have been paid to the debtor at that time under that provision and to have been paid by the debtor at that time on account of the debt to Her Majesty.

Marginal note:Refund may be applied against liabilities

97.27 The Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness may, if a person is or is about to become liable to make any payment to Her Majesty in right of Canada or in right of a province, apply the amount of any drawback, refund or relief granted under section 74 or 76 of this Act or section 89, 101 or 113 of the Customs Tariff to that other liability and notify the person of that action.

Garnishment and Non-arm’s Length Transfers

Marginal note:Garnishment — general

• 97.28 (1) If the Minister has knowledge or suspects that a person is or will be, within one year, liable to make a payment to a debtor, the Minister may, by notice in writing, require the person to pay without delay, if the moneys are immediately payable, and, in any other case, as and when the moneys become payable, the moneys otherwise payable to the debtor in whole or in part to the Receiver General on account of the debtor’s liability under this Act.

• Marginal note:Garnishment — institutions

  (2) The Minister may, by notice in writing, require the following institutions or persons to pay in whole or in part to the Receiver General on account of a debtor’s liability the moneys that would otherwise be loaned, advanced or paid if the Minister has knowledge or suspects that within ninety days

  • (a) a bank, credit union, trust company or other similar person (in this section referred to as the “institution”) will loan or advance moneys to, or make a payment on behalf of, or make a payment in respect of a negotiable instrument issued by, a debtor who is indebted to the institution and who has granted security in respect of the indebtedness; or

  • (b) a person, other than an institution, will loan or advance moneys to, or make a payment on behalf of, a debtor who the Minister knows or suspects

    • (i) is employed by, or is engaged in providing services or property to, that person or was or will be, within ninety days, so employed or engaged, or

    • (ii) if that person is a corporation, is not dealing at arm’s length with that person.

  Any moneys so paid to the Receiver General are deemed to have been loaned, advanced or paid to the debtor.

• Marginal note:Effect of receipt

  (3) A receipt issued by the Minister for moneys paid as required under this section is a good and sufficient discharge of the original liability to the extent of the payment.

• Marginal note:Periodic payments

  (4) If the Minister has, under this section, required a person to pay to the Receiver General on account of the liability under this Act of a debtor moneys otherwise payable by the person to the debtor as interest, rent, remuneration, a dividend, an annuity or other periodic payment, the requirement applies to all such payments to be made by the person to the debtor until the liability under this Act is satisfied, and operates to require payments to the Receiver General out of each such payment of such amount as is required by the Minister in a notice in writing.

• Marginal note:Failure to comply

  (5) Every person who fails to comply with a requirement under subsection (1) or (4) is liable to pay to Her Majesty in right of Canada an amount equal to the amount that the person was required under that subsection to pay to the Receiver General.

• Marginal note:Failure to comply — institutions

  (6) Every institution or person that fails to comply with a requirement under subsection (2) is liable to pay to Her Majesty in right of Canada an amount equal to the lesser of

  • (a) the total of moneys loaned, advanced or paid to the debtor, and

  • (b) the amount that the institution or person was required under that subsection to pay to the Receiver General.

• Marginal note:Service

  (7) If a person carries on business under a name or style other than the person’s own name, notification to the person of a requirement under subsection (1) or (2) may be addressed to the name or style under which the person carries on business and, in the case of personal service, is validly served if it is left with an adult person employed at the place of business of the addressee.

• Marginal note:Service — partnerships

  (8) If persons carry on business in partnership, notification to the persons of a requirement under subsection (1) or (2) may be addressed to the partnership name and, in the case of personal service, is deemed to be validly served if it is served on one of the partners or left with an adult person employed at the place of business of the partnership.

• Marginal note:Effect of payment as required

  (9) If an amount that would otherwise have been payable to or on behalf of a debtor is paid by a person to the Receiver General pursuant to a notice served on the person under this section or pursuant to an assessment under section 97.44, the person is deemed, for all purposes, to have paid the amount to or on behalf of the debtor.

• Marginal note:Application to Her Majesty in right of a province

  (10) Provisions of this Part that provide that a person who has been required by the Minister to pay to the Receiver General an amount that would otherwise be loaned, advanced or paid to a debtor who is liable to make a payment under this Act apply to Her Majesty in right of a province.

Marginal note:Liability — non-arm’s length transfers

• 97.29 (1) If a person transfers property, either directly or indirectly, by means of a trust or by any other means, to the transferor’s spouse or common-law partner or an individual who has since become the transferor’s spouse or common-law partner, an individual who was under eighteen years of age, or another person with whom the transferor was not dealing at arm’s length, the transferee and transferor are jointly and severally or solidarily liable to pay an amount equal to the lesser of

  • (a) the amount determined by the formula

    A - B

    where

    A

    is the amount, if any, by which the fair market value of the property at the time of transfer exceeds the fair market value at that time of the consideration given by the transferee for the transfer of the property, and

    B

    is the amount, if any, by which the amount assessed the transferee under subsection 325(2) of the Excise Tax Act, subsection 160(2) of the Income Tax Act and subsection 297(3) of the Excise Act, 2001 in respect of the property exceeds the amount paid by the transferor in respect of the amount so assessed, and

  • (b) the total of all amounts each of which is

    • (i) an amount that the transferor is liable to pay under this Act, or

    • (ii) interest or a penalty for which the transferor is liable as of the time of transfer.

  However, nothing in this subsection limits the liability of the transferor under any other provision of this Act.

• Marginal note:Fair market value of undivided interest

  (2) For the purpose of this section, the fair market value at any time of an undivided interest in a property, expressed as a proportionate interest in that property, is, subject to subsection (4), equal to the same proportion of the fair market value of that property at that time.

• Marginal note:Rules applicable

  (3) If a transferor and transferee have, under subsection (1), become jointly and severally or solidarily liable in respect of all or part of the liability of the transferor under this Act, the following rules apply:

  • (a) a payment by the transferee on account of the transferee’s liability discharges, to the extent of the payment, the joint liability; and

  • (b) a payment by the transferor on account of the transferor’s liability discharges the transferee’s liability only to the extent that the payment operates to reduce the transferor’s liability to an amount less than the amount in respect of which the transferee was made jointly and severally or solidarily liable.

• Marginal note:Transfers to spouse or common-law partner

  (4) Despite subsection (1), if at any time a debtor transfers property to the debtor’s spouse or common-law partner under a decree, order or judgment of a competent tribunal or under a written separation agreement and, at that time, the debtor and the debtor’s spouse or common-law partner were separated and living apart as a result of the breakdown of their marriage or common-law partnership (as defined in subsection 248(1) of the Income Tax Act), for the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), the fair market value at that time of the property so transferred is deemed to be nil. However, nothing in this subsection limits the liability of the debtor under any other provision of this Act.

• Marginal note:Related persons

  (5) For the purposes of this section,

  • (a) related persons are deemed not to deal with each other at arm’s length, and it is a question of fact whether persons not related to each other were, at any particular time, dealing with each other at arm’s length;

  • (b) persons are related to each other if they are related persons within the meaning of subsections 251(2) to (6) of the Income Tax Act, except that references in those subsections to “corporation” are to be read as references to “corporation or partnership”, and references in those subsections to “shares” or “shareholders” are, in respect of a partnership, to be read as references to “rights” or “partners”, respectively; and

  • (c) a member of a partnership is deemed to be related to the partnership.

• Marginal note:Definitions

  (6) The definitions in this subsection apply in this section.

  common-law partner

  common-law partner has the same meaning as in subsection 248(1) of the Income Tax Act except that references to “taxpayer” in that definition are to be read as references to “debtor”. (conjoint de fait)

  common-law partnership

  common-law partnership has the same meaning as in subsection 248(1) of the Income Tax Act. (union de fait)

  property

  property includes money. (bien)

Acquisition of Property and Seizures

Marginal note:Acquisition of debtor’s property

97.3 For the purpose of collecting amounts owed by a debtor, the Minister may purchase or otherwise acquire any interest in the debtor’s property that the Minister is given a right to acquire in legal proceedings or under a court order or that is offered for sale or redemption, and may dispose of any interest so acquired in any manner that the Minister considers reasonable.

Marginal note:Moneys seized from debtor

• 97.31 (1) If the Minister has knowledge or suspects that a person is holding moneys that were seized by a police officer, in the course of administering or enforcing the criminal law of Canada, from a debtor and that are restorable to the debtor, the Minister may, by notice in writing, require that person to turn over the moneys otherwise restorable to the debtor, in whole or in part, to the Receiver General on account of the debtor’s liability under this Act.

• Marginal note:Receipt

  (2) A receipt issued for moneys turned over is a good and sufficient discharge of the requirement to restore the moneys to the debtor to the extent of the amount so turned over.

Marginal note:Seizure of chattels

• 97.32 (1) If a person fails to pay an amount as required under this Act, the Minister may give thirty days notice to the person by registered or certified mail addressed to the person at their latest known address of the Minister’s intention to direct that the person’s goods and chattels be seized and sold. If the person fails to make the payment before the expiration of the thirty days, the Minister may issue a certificate of the failure and direct that the person’s goods and chattels be seized.

• Marginal note:Sale of seized property

  (2) Seized property must be kept for ten days at the expense and risk of the owner and, if the owner does not pay the amount due together with all expenses within the ten days, the property seized shall be sold by public auction.

• Marginal note:Notice of sale

  (3) Except in the case of perishable goods, notice of the sale setting out the time and place of the sale together with a general description of the property to be sold must be published, a reasonable time before the goods are sold, in one or more newspapers of general local circulation.

• Marginal note:Surplus

  (4) Any surplus resulting from a sale, after deduction of the amount owing and all expenses, must be paid or returned to the owner of the property seized.

• Marginal note:Exemption from seizure

  (5) Goods and chattels of any person that would be exempt from seizure under a writ of execution issued out of a superior court of the province in which the seizure is made are exempt from seizure under this section.