Motor Vehicle Fuel Consumption Standards Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. M-9)

Short Title

Marginal note:Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Motor Vehicle Fuel Consumption Standards Act.

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

2 In this Act,

company

company means a person

• (a) engaged in the business of manufacturing motor vehicles in Canada,

• (b) engaged in the business of importing motor vehicles into Canada, or

• (c) engaged in the business of selling to other persons, principally for the purpose of resale, motor vehicles obtained directly from a person described in paragraph (a) or his agent; (compagnie)

company average fuel consumption

company average fuel consumption means, in relation to a given company, the average fuel consumption of all motor vehicles of a prescribed class, calculated in accordance with section 10; (moyenne de consommation de carburant d’une compagnie)

fuel

fuel means gasoline, diesel oil or any other combustible matter and includes any other prescribed form of energy; (carburant)

fuel consumption

fuel consumption means the quantity of fuel used by a motor vehicle when driven a given distance; (consommation de carburant)

fuel consumption number

fuel consumption number means a number that represents the fuel consumption of a motor vehicle under controlled test conditions; (cote de consommation de carburant)

fuel consumption standard

fuel consumption standard means a standard prescribed pursuant to section 3; (norme de consommation de carburant)

inspector

inspector means a person designated as an inspector pursuant to subsection 23(1); (inspecteur)

Minister

Minister means the Minister of Transport; (ministre)

motor vehicle

motor vehicle means any vehicle designed to be driven or drawn on roads by any means other than exclusively by muscular power, and includes pedal cycles with auxiliary motors, minibikes and motorized snow vehicles, but does not include any vehicle designed for running exclusively on rails; (véhicule automobile)

prescribed

prescribed means prescribed by regulation; (Version anglaise seulement)

year

year means a calendar year. (année)

Fuel Consumption Standards

Marginal note:Fuel consumption standards

3 The Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister and the Minister of Natural Resources, make regulations prescribing, for the purposes of section 11, a fuel consumption standard for any prescribed class of motor vehicle for any year.

Marginal note:Publication of proposed regulations

• 4 (1) Subject to subsection (2), a copy of each regulation that the Governor in Council proposes to make under section 3 or 37 shall be published in the Canada Gazette at least ninety days before the proposed effective date thereof, and a reasonable opportunity within those ninety days shall be afforded to companies and other interested persons to make representations to the Minister with respect thereto.

• Marginal note:Exceptions

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of a proposed regulation that

  • (a) has previously been published pursuant to that subsection, whether or not it has been changed as a result of representations made pursuant to that subsection; or

  • (b) makes no substantive change to an existing regulation.

Marginal note:Validity of fuel consumption standard

5 A fuel consumption standard prescribed under section 3 for a particular year is not valid unless one of the following conditions is met:

• (a) the fuel consumption standard has been published in the Canada Gazette before the end of the third year preceding that year;

• (b) the fuel consumption standard is no more stringent than the fuel consumption standard applicable to the preceding year; or

• (c) no objections by a company were received by the Minister during the ninety day period following publication of the proposed fuel consumption standard under subsection 4(1).

Prohibitions

Marginal note:Interprovincial trade and imports

• 6 (1) No company shall, for the purpose of sale,

  • (a) ship a motor vehicle of a prescribed class from the province in which it was manufactured to another province, or

  • (b) import into Canada a motor vehicle of a prescribed class

  unless

  • (c) a fuel consumption number in respect of that motor vehicle is registered pursuant to section 7,

  • (d) a label setting out the prescribed information relating to fuel consumption is affixed to the motor vehicle in the prescribed manner, and

  • (e) the motor vehicle is, according to its manufacturer’s specifications and according to the prescribed rules, substantially similar to the motor vehicle or vehicles used to establish the registered fuel consumption number.

• Marginal note:Saving provision

  (2) No contravention of subsection (1) shall be deemed to be committed by a company if the requirements of paragraphs (1)(c) to (e) are met before the motor vehicle leaves the possession of that company or its consignee.

Registration of Fuel Consumption Numbers

Marginal note:Application for registration

• 7 (1) Where a company has established a fuel consumption number in accordance with the prescribed procedure, it may submit an application to the Minister, in prescribed form and containing the prescribed information, requesting registration of that fuel consumption number in respect of the motor vehicles described in the application.

• Marginal note:Prescribed procedure must be used

  (2) A company shall not submit an application under subsection (1) where the fuel consumption number was not established in accordance with the prescribed procedure.

• Marginal note:Minister to register fuel consumption number

  (3) Where the Minister receives a duly completed application under subsection (1), he shall forthwith register the fuel consumption number set out in the application.

Marginal note:Prohibition orders re advertising

• 8 (1) The Minister may, by order, prohibit the use by any company of

  • (a) a registered fuel consumption number, and

  • (b) fuel consumption information related to that registered fuel consumption number

  in advertising or other representations to the public relating to a motor vehicle if the Minister has reasonable grounds to believe

  • (c) that the motor vehicle is not, according to its manufacturer’s specifications and according to the prescribed rules, substantially similar to the motor vehicle or vehicles used to establish the registered fuel consumption number,

  • (d) that the application for registration of the fuel consumption number contained false or misleading information, or

  • (e) that the fuel consumption number was not established in accordance with the prescribed procedure,

  and that, as a result, the registered fuel consumption number does not correctly represent the fuel consumption of that motor vehicle.

• Marginal note:When order takes effect

  (2) An order under subsection (1) takes effect sixty days after the order is made or on such later date as is fixed by the order.

• Marginal note:Revised fuel consumption number

  (3) Where the Minister has made an order under subsection (1), the company that had obtained that registered fuel consumption number under section 7 may apply to the Minister for registration of a revised fuel consumption number, and subsections 7(1) and (2) apply to such an application.

• Marginal note:Minister’s discretion

  (4) Where a company applies under subsection (3) for registration of a revised fuel consumption number, the Minister is not required to register that number if he has reasonable grounds to believe that it does not correctly represent the fuel consumption of the motor vehicle.

• Marginal note:Where order deemed not to be contravened

  (5) In any prosecution under paragraph 30(1)(b) for contravention of an order made under subsection (1), a company shall be deemed not to have contravened the order if it establishes that it took all reasonable measures

  • (a) to withdraw the offending advertising or representations; and

  • (b) to substitute new advertising or representations, with similar distribution, using a registered revised fuel consumption number obtained pursuant to this section.

Calculation of Company Average Fuel Consumption

Marginal note:Company’s annual report to Minister

• 9 (1) Every company shall, before the prescribed time, submit to the Minister a report with respect to each year, in prescribed form, setting out, by registered fuel consumption number, with respect to all motor vehicles to which registered fuel consumption numbers apply, the aggregate of

  • (a) the number of those motor vehicles that it has manufactured in Canada in that year for the purpose of sale in a province other than the province of manufacture,

  • (b) the number of those motor vehicles that it has imported into Canada in that year for the purpose of sale in Canada, and

  • (c) in accordance with subsection 19(2), the number of those motor vehicles that it has manufactured in Canada in that year for the purpose of sale in Canada, other than motor vehicles described in paragraph (a), and to which has been applied a national fuel consumption mark described in section 17.

• Marginal note:Year of manufacture or importation of motor vehicle

  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a motor vehicle shall be deemed to have been manufactured or imported either in the year in which it was in fact manufactured or imported, as the case may be, or in the following year, at the option of the company.

Marginal note:Calculation of company average fuel consumption

10 For each prescribed class of motor vehicle, the Minister shall calculate for each year, in litres per one hundred kilometres, according to the prescribed method of calculation, the company average fuel consumption for each company, based on

• (a) the information contained in the annual report submitted by the company pursuant to section 9; and

• (b) prescribed equivalence factors, in the case of motor vehicles that use fuels other than the prescribed reference gasoline.

Enforcement of Fuel Consumption Standards

Marginal note:Company average fuel consumption not to exceed fuel consumption standard

• 11 (1) A company that

  • (a) ships motor vehicles of a prescribed class from the province in which they were manufactured to another province,

  • (b) imports into Canada motor vehicles of a prescribed class,

  • (c) applies to motor vehicles of a prescribed class any national fuel consumption mark, or

  • (d) sells, offers for sale, has in possession for sale or delivers for sale motor vehicles of a prescribed class to which has been applied any national fuel consumption mark

  shall ensure that, for that class of motor vehicle, its company average fuel consumption for any particular year does not exceed the fuel consumption standard for that year.

• Marginal note:Penalty where company exceeds fuel consumption standard

  (2) Subject to section 16, where, for any year, for a particular prescribed class of motor vehicle, the company average fuel consumption of a company exceeds the fuel consumption standard, the Minister shall issue an assessment against that company imposing, subject to subsection (3), a penalty equal to the product obtained by multiplying

  • (a) one dollar for every one-hundredth of a litre per one hundred kilometres by which the company average fuel consumption exceeds the fuel consumption standard

    by

  • (b) the aggregate number of motor vehicles set out in the report submitted pursuant to section 9.

• Marginal note:Credits will reduce penalty

  (3) The penalty calculated under subsection (2) shall be reduced by an amount equal to the product obtained by multiplying

  • (a) one dollar for every one-hundredth of a litre per one hundred kilometres by which the company average fuel consumption for the same prescribed class of motor vehicle is lower than the fuel consumption standard

    by

  • (b) the aggregate number of motor vehicles set out in the report submitted pursuant to section 9

  in respect of

  • (c) any or all of the three years preceding the year for which the penalty is imposed, and

  • (d) the year immediately following the year for which the penalty is imposed.

• Marginal note:A credit usable only once

  (4) An amount used under subsection (3) to reduce a penalty is not available to reduce a subsequent penalty.