Canada Shipping Act, 2001 (S.C. 2001, c. 26)

Inspections

Marginal note:Designation

• 195 (1) The Minister may designate persons or classes of persons as pleasure craft safety inspectors.

• Marginal note:Certificate

  (2) The Minister must furnish every inspector with a certificate of designation as a pleasure craft safety inspector authorizing the inspector to carry out inspections under sections 196 and 198.

• Marginal note:Immunity

  (3) Inspectors are not personally liable for anything they do or omit to do in good faith under this Part.

Marginal note:Designation

• 196 (1) The Minister may designate persons or classes of persons as enforcement officers.

• Marginal note:Inspections — general

  (2) An enforcement officer may inspect a pleasure craft or any of its machinery or equipment for the purpose of ensuring compliance with any provision of this Part, other than section 197, or the regulations made under this Part, other than the regulations made under paragraph 207(1)(f), (g), (i) or (j).

• Marginal note:Inspections — structural integrity

  (3) An inspector may inspect a pleasure craft or any of its machinery or equipment for structural integrity or compliance with the regulations made under any of paragraphs 207(1)(f) to (m).

• Marginal note:Powers

  (4) Enforcement officers acting under subsection (2) and inspectors acting under subsection (3) may

  • (a) stop or board the craft at any reasonable time;

  • (b) direct any person to put into operation or cease operating any machinery or equipment on the craft;

  • (c) direct that the craft not be moved until the inspection is completed;

  • (d) direct any person to move the craft to a safe place if the officer or inspector has reasonable grounds to believe that it does not meet the requirements of this Part or the regulations made under this Part or exposes any person to serious danger, and direct that it not be operated until it meets those requirements or no longer exposes any person to serious danger; and

  • (e) direct any person to move the craft to a safe place if the officer or inspector has reasonable grounds to believe that the operator does not meet the requirements of the regulations made under this Part, and direct that the operator not operate it until the operator meets those requirements.

• Marginal note:Duty to assist

  (5) The owner or person in charge of a pleasure craft and every person on board shall

  • (a) give an officer or inspector all reasonable assistance to enable them to carry out an inspection and exercise any power conferred by this section; and

  • (b) produce to an officer or inspector any document, or provide them with any information, that the officer or inspector may reasonably require, for the administration of this Part or Part 5 (Navigation Services) or the regulations made under either of those Parts.

Marginal note:Manufacturers and importers

• 197 (1) Every manufacturer, builder or importer of a pleasure craft shall ensure that it is constructed in accordance with the regulations.

• Marginal note:Vendors

  (2) No person shall, in the course of a commercial enterprise, sell a pleasure craft that does not display a plate or label if required to do so by the regulations made under paragraph 207(1)(h).

Marginal note:Powers

• 198 (1) An inspector may, for the purpose of ensuring that a manufacturer, importer or vendor is in compliance with section 197,

  • (a) enter any place, other than a dwelling-house, where the inspector has reasonable grounds to believe a pleasure craft is located;

  • (b) examine anything that the inspector finds and take samples of it;

  • (c) conduct any tests or analyses and take any measurements;

  • (d) inspect any books, records, electronic data or other documents that the inspector believes may contain information that is relevant to the inspection;

  • (e) use or cause to be used any computer system in the place where the inspection is being carried out to examine any data contained in or available to the computer system;

  • (f) reproduce or cause to be reproduced any record from the data in the form of a print-out or other intelligible output;

  • (g) take any document or other thing from the place where the inspection is being carried out for examination or, in the case of a document, copying; and

  • (h) use or cause to be used any copying equipment in the place where the inspection is being carried out to make copies of any documents.

• Marginal note:Duty to assist

  (2) When an inspector carries out an inspection under subsection (1), the importer, manufacturer or vendor of the pleasure craft, or the owner or person in control of a place where the pleasure craft is located, shall

  • (a) give the inspector all reasonable assistance to enable them to carry out the inspection and exercise any power conferred by this section; and

  • (b) produce to the inspector any document, or provide them with any information, that the inspector may reasonably require for the administration of this Part or the regulations made under this Part.

• Marginal note:Return of documents and things

  (3) Documents or other things obtained or taken under paragraph (1)(g) must be returned as soon as feasible after they are no longer required for the inspection or for any proceedings that may result from it.

• Marginal note:Disposition of samples

  (4) An inspector who takes a sample under paragraph (1)(b) may dispose of it in any manner that they consider appropriate.

Marginal note:Operation prohibited

199 If an inspector considers that a pleasure craft does not meet the requirements of this Part or the regulations made under this Part, the inspector may direct any person not to operate it until it meets those requirements.

Investigations

Marginal note:Stopping and boarding vessels

200 An enforcement officer who has reasonable grounds to believe that an offence has been committed or is about to be committed under this Part by a pleasure craft or any person on board a vessel may stop and board the craft or vessel and take any reasonable action to ensure public safety or protect the public interest.

Safe Operation of Pleasure Craft

Marginal note:Duty

201 Every operator of a pleasure craft shall ensure that it meets the requirements of the regulations made under this Part.

Pleasure Craft Licences

Marginal note:Licensing of pleasure craft

• 202 (1) Subject to the regulations, if a pleasure craft is required by regulations made under this Part to be licensed, the owner of the craft must not operate it, or permit it to be operated, unless it is licensed.

• Marginal note:Transfer of licence

  (2) Subject to the regulations, when the ownership of a pleasure craft referred to in subsection (1) changes, the new owner must not operate the craft, or permit it to be operated, until the licence for that craft is transferred to the new owner in accordance with the regulations.

Marginal note:Application

• 203 (1) An application for a licence or for the transfer of a licence must be made in the form and manner, include the information and be accompanied by the documents specified by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Issuance of licence

  (2) The Minister may issue or transfer a licence to an applicant if the Minister is satisfied that all the requirements under subsection (1) have been met.

Marginal note:Refusal to issue or transfer licence

203.1 Despite any other provision of this Act, the Minister may refuse to issue — including by way of renewal — or transfer a licence for a pleasure craft or may refuse to issue a replacement licence if the applicant for, or holder of, the licence is in default of payment of a required fee, charge, cost or expense in respect of that pleasure craft under this Act or the Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act.

Marginal note:Licence number

204 No owner of a pleasure craft in respect of which a pleasure craft licence has been issued shall operate it or allow it to be operated unless the licence number is marked on the craft and maintained in the form and manner specified by the Minister.

Marginal note:Defacing, etc., licence number

205 No person shall deface, alter, conceal or remove the licence number that is marked on a pleasure craft.

Marginal note:Lost documents

206 If a pleasure craft licence is mislaid, lost or destroyed, the Minister, on application made by the holder of the licence in the form and manner and including the information and accompanied by the documents specified by the Minister, may issue a replacement licence.

Regulations

Marginal note:Regulations

• 207 (1) The Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister, make regulations respecting pleasure craft licensing and the safety of pleasure craft or classes of pleasure craft and of persons on board, including regulations

  • (a) respecting the issuance, cancellation or transfer of pleasure craft licences;

  • (b) respecting qualifications, including medical fitness, minimum age, degree of knowledge, skill, training and experience, for operators of pleasure craft or classes of pleasure craft, and the evidence required to prove compliance with those qualifications;

  • (c) respecting the operation of pleasure craft or classes of pleasure craft;

  • (d) respecting training courses and examinations for pleasure craft operators, including the designation and accreditation of persons or organizations that provide them;

  • (e) respecting the issuance, cancellation or suspension of documents that demonstrate compliance with any regulations made under paragraph (b) or (d);

  • (f) respecting the design, construction or manufacture of pleasure craft or classes of pleasure craft;

  • (g) respecting the issuance or cancellation of plates or labels in respect of pleasure craft that comply with regulations made under paragraph (f);

  • (h) requiring that plates or labels referred to in paragraph (g) be displayed and specifying the manner in which they must be displayed;

  • (i) prohibiting the construction, manufacture, sale, lease, importation or operation of pleasure craft that do not meet the requirements of regulations made under paragraph (f);

  • (j) requiring owners, builders, manufacturers, importers or vendors of pleasure craft to modify their pleasure craft, at their own expense, in order to comply with regulations made under paragraph (f);

  • (k) respecting hull identification or serial numbers that identify pleasure craft;

  • (l) specifying the machinery and equipment that are required or prohibited on pleasure craft or classes of pleasure craft;

  • (m) respecting the design, construction, manufacture, maintenance, storage, testing, approval, arrangement and use of a pleasure craft’s or a class of pleasure craft’s machinery and equipment;

  • (n) respecting the requirements that pleasure craft, or classes of pleasure craft, and their machinery and equipment must meet;

  • (o) respecting documents that must be kept on board pleasure craft or classes of pleasure craft; and

  • (p) respecting the reporting of accidents involving pleasure craft.

• Marginal note:Regulations — pollution

  (2) The Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister, make regulations

  • (a) regulating or prohibiting the discharge of pollutants from pleasure craft; and

  • (b) regulating noise emissions from pleasure craft engines.

Offences and Punishment

Marginal note:Contravention of Act

• 208 (1) Every person commits an offence who contravenes

  • (a) subsection 197(1) (ensure a pleasure craft is constructed in accordance with the regulations); or

  • (b) subsection 197(2) (selling a pleasure craft without a plate or label).

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (2) Every person who commits an offence under subsection (1) is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than $100,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than one year, or to both.