Radiocommunication Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. R-2)

Marginal note:Seizure

• 8.1 (1) An inspector may seize and detain any radio apparatus, interference-causing equipment, radio-sensitive equipment or jammer that they have reasonable grounds to believe is or was used to contravene any provision of this Act or the regulations or is related to the contravention of a provision of the Act or the regulations.

• Marginal note:Detention

  (2) Any thing that is seized under subsection (1) is not to be detained

  • (a) after the applicable provisions of this Act or the regulations have, in the opinion of an inspector, been complied with; or

  • (b) after the expiry of 60 days after the day on which the thing is seized, unless before that time

    • (i) the seized thing has been forfeited under section 8.3 or 13,

    • (ii) proceedings have been instituted in respect of the contravention in relation to which the thing was seized, in which case it may be detained until the proceedings are concluded, or

    • (iii) notice of an application for an order extending the time during which the seized thing may be detained has been given in accordance with subsection 8.2(1).

• Marginal note:Storing of seized things

  (3) Any thing seized under subsection (1) may, at the option of an inspector, be kept or stored in the building or place where it was seized or may be removed to any other proper place by or at the direction of an inspector.

• Marginal note:Prohibition

  (4) No person shall, without the permission of an inspector, remove, alter or interfere in any way with any thing seized under this section.

Marginal note:Application to extend period of detention

• 8.2 (1) If proceedings have not been instituted, the Minister may, before the expiry of 60 days after the day on which the thing is seized and after giving notice to the owner of the seized thing or to the person in whose possession it was at the time of seizure, apply to any superior court of competent jurisdiction for an order extending the time during which the seized thing may be detained.

• Marginal note:Order of extension granted

  (2) If, on the hearing of an application made under subsection (1), the court is satisfied that the thing seized should continue to be detained, the court shall order that it be detained for the additional period that the court considers appropriate and that, on the expiry of that period, it be restored to the person from whom it was seized or to any other person entitled to its possession unless before the expiry of that period, subparagraph 8.1(2)(b)(i) or (ii) applies.

Marginal note:Forfeiture on consent

8.3 The owner or the last person in lawful possession of any radio apparatus, interference-causing equipment, radio-sensitive equipment or jammer may, at any time, consent in writing to its forfeiture to Her Majesty.

Offences and Punishment

Marginal note:Prohibitions

• 9 (1) No person shall

  • (a) knowingly send, transmit or cause to be sent or transmitted any false or fraudulent distress signal, message, call or radiogram of any kind;

  • (b) without lawful excuse, interfere with or obstruct any radiocommunication;

  • (c) decode an encrypted subscription programming signal or encrypted network feed otherwise than under and in accordance with an authorization from the lawful distributor of the signal or feed;

  • (d) operate a radio apparatus so as to receive an encrypted subscription programming signal or encrypted network feed that has been decoded in contravention of paragraph (c); or

  • (e) retransmit to the public an encrypted subscription programming signal or encrypted network feed that has been decoded in contravention of paragraph (c).

• Marginal note:Prohibition

  (1.1) Except as prescribed, no person shall make use of or divulge a radio-based telephone communication

  • (a) if 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; and

  • (b) unless the originator, or the person intended by the originator to receive the communication consents to the use or divulgence.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) Except as prescribed, no person shall intercept and make use of, or intercept and divulge, any radiocommunication, except as permitted by the originator of the communication or the person intended by the originator of the communication to receive it.

• Marginal note:Exceptions

  (3) Subsection (2) does not apply in respect of radiocommunication that consists of broadcasting, a subscription programming signal or a network feed.

Marginal note:Penalties

9.1 Every person who contravenes subsection 9(1.1) or (2) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable

• (a) in the case of an individual, to a fine not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both; and

• (b) in the case of a person other than an individual, to a fine not exceeding seventy-five thousand dollars.

Marginal note:Offences

• 10 (1) Every person who

  • (a) contravenes section 4 or paragraph 9(1)(a) or (b),

  • (b) without lawful excuse, manufactures, imports, distributes, leases, offers for sale, sells, installs, modifies, operates or possesses any equipment or device, or any component thereof, under circumstances that give rise to a reasonable inference that the equipment, device or component has been used, or is or was intended to be used, for the purpose of contravening section 9,

  • (c) contravenes or fails to comply with an order issued by the Minister under paragraph 5(1)(l),

  • (c.1) contravenes subsection 5(1.5), or

  • (d) contravenes or fails to comply with a regulation, where no punishment is prescribed by regulations made under paragraph 6(1)(r) for that contravention or failure to comply,

  is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and is liable, in the case of an individual, to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both, or, in the case of a corporation, to a fine not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars.

• Marginal note:Offences

  (2) Every person is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and is liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, who

  • (a) contravenes or fails to comply with subsection 8(5) or (6) or 8.1(4); or

  • (b) does not submit the information required by the inspector under subsection 8(5.1).

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2.1) Every person who contravenes paragraph 9(1)(c) or (d) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and is liable, in the case of an individual, to a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both, or, in the case of a corporation, to a fine not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2.2) Every person who contravenes paragraph 9(1)(e) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and is liable, in the case of an individual, to a fine not exceeding twenty thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both, or, in the case of a corporation, to a fine not exceeding two hundred thousand dollars.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2.3) No person who decodes an encrypted subscription programming signal in contravention of paragraph 9(1)(c) shall be convicted of an offence under that paragraph if the lawful distributor had the lawful right to make the signal available, on payment of a subscription fee or other charge, to persons in the area where the signal was decoded but had not made the signal readily available to those persons.

• Marginal note:Not lawful excuse

  (2.4) Nothing in subsection (2.3) shall constitute a lawful excuse for any person to manufacture, import, distribute, lease, offer for sale or sell any equipment or device, or any component thereof, in contravention of paragraph (1)(b).

• Marginal note:Due diligence

  (2.5) No person shall be convicted of an offence under paragraph 9(1)(c), (d) or (e) if the person exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of the offence.

• Marginal note:Continuing offence

  (3) Where an offence under this section is committed or continued on more than one day, the person who committed the offence is liable to be convicted for a separate offence for each day on which the offence is committed or continued.

• Marginal note:Injunctions

  (4) Where a court of competent jurisdiction is satisfied, on application by the Minister, that an offence under paragraph (1)(a) is being or is likely to be committed, the court may grant an injunction, subject to such conditions as the court considers appropriate, ordering any person to cease or refrain from any activity related to that offence.

• Marginal note:Federal Court

  (5) For the purposes of subsection (4), the Federal Court is a court of competent jurisdiction.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (6) A prosecution for an offence under this Act may be commenced within, but not after, three years after the day on which the subject-matter of the offence arose.

Marginal note:Liability of directors, etc.

11 Where a corporation commits an offence under this Act, any officer, director or agent of the corporation who directed, authorized, assented to or acquiesced or participated in the commission of the offence is a party to and guilty of the offence, and is liable to the punishment provided for that offence in respect of an individual, whether or not the corporation has been prosecuted or convicted.

Marginal note:Ticket offences

• 12 (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations designating any offence under this Act as an offence in respect of which

  • (a) any person appointed as an inspector may issue and serve a summons by completing a ticket in the prescribed form, signing it and

    • (i) delivering it to the accused at the time the offence is alleged to have been committed, or

    • (ii) mailing it to the accused at the accused’s latest known address, and

  • (b) the information may be laid after the ticket is delivered or mailed,

  and any regulations made under this section shall establish a procedure for voluntarily entering a plea of guilty and paying a fine in respect of each offence to which the regulations relate and shall prescribe the amount of the fine to be paid in respect of each such offence.

• Marginal note:Fines

  (2) A fine prescribed by regulations made under subsection (1) in respect of an offence may be lower for a first offence than for a subsequent offence, but in no case shall it be greater than one thousand dollars.

• Marginal note:Failure to respond to ticket

  (3) Where a person to whom a ticket is delivered or mailed does not enter a plea within the prescribed time, a justice shall examine the information referred to in subsection (1) and

  • (a) if the information is complete and regular on its face, the justice shall enter a conviction in the person’s absence and impose a fine of the prescribed amount; or

  • (b) if the information is not complete and regular on its face, the justice shall quash the proceedings.

Marginal note:Forfeiture of radio apparatus

• 13 (1) In the case of a conviction for an offence under paragraph 10(1)(a), any radio apparatus in relation to which or by means of which the offence was committed may be forfeited to Her Majesty in right of Canada by order of the Minister for such disposition, subject to subsections (2) to (6), as the Minister may direct.

• Marginal note:Notice of forfeiture

  (2) Where a radio apparatus is ordered to be forfeited under subsection (1), the Minister shall cause a notice of the forfeiture to be published in the Canada Gazette.

• Marginal note:Application by person claiming interest

  (3) Any person, other than a party to the proceedings that resulted in a forfeiture under subsection (1), who claims an interest in the apparatus as owner, mortgagee, lien holder or holder of any like interest may, within thirty days after the making of the order of forfeiture, apply to any superior court of competent jurisdiction for an order under subsection (6), whereupon the court shall fix a day for the hearing of the application.

• Marginal note:Notice

  (4) An applicant for an order under subsection (6) shall, at least thirty days before the day fixed for the hearing of the application, serve a notice of the application and of the hearing on the Minister and on all other persons claiming an interest in the apparatus that is the subject-matter of the application as owner, mortgagee, lien holder or holder of any like interest of whom the applicant has knowledge.

• Marginal note:Notice of intervention

  (5) Every person, other than the Minister, who is served with a notice under subsection (4) and who intends to appear at the hearing of the application to which the notice relates shall, at least ten days before the day fixed for the hearing, file an appropriate notice of intervention in the record of the court and serve a copy thereof on the Minister and on the applicant.

• Marginal note:Order declaring nature and extent of interests

  (6) Where, on the hearing of an application under this section, the court is satisfied that the applicant, or the interveners, if any, or any of them,

  • (a) are innocent of any complicity and collusion in any conduct that caused the apparatus to be subject to forfeiture, and

  • (b) in the case of owners, exercised all reasonable care in respect of the persons permitted to obtain possession and use of the apparatus to satisfy themselves that it was not likely to be used in the commission of an offence under paragraph 10(1)(a),

  any applicant or intervener in respect of whom the court is so satisfied is entitled to an order declaring that his interest is not affected by the forfeiture and declaring the nature and extent of his interest and the priority of his interest in relation to other interests recognized pursuant to this subsection, and the court may, in addition, order that the apparatus to which the interests relate be delivered to one or more of the persons found to have an interest therein, or that an amount equal to the value of each of the interests so declared be paid to the persons found to have those interests.

Marginal note:Exemptions

• 14 (1) The Minister may, by order, subject to any terms and conditions that he or she may specify, exempt any person, class of persons or entity from the application of subsection 4(4) or paragraph 9(1)(b), for any of the following purposes:

  • (a) national security;

  • (b) public safety, including with respect to penitentiaries and prisons;

  • (c) customs and immigration;

  • (d) national defence;

  • (e) international relations;

  • (f) the investigation or prosecution of offences in Canada, including the preservation of evidence;

  • (g) the protection of property, or the prevention of serious harm to any person; or

  • (h) for any other purpose prescribed by regulation.

• Marginal note:Regulation

  (2) The Governor in Council may make regulations for the purpose of paragraph (1)(h).