Softwood Lumber Products Export Charge Act, 2006 (S.C. 2006, c. 13)

Confidentiality of Information

Marginal note:Definitions

• 84 (1) The following definitions apply in this section.

  authorized person

  authorized person means a person who is engaged or employed, or who was formerly engaged or employed, by or on behalf of Her Majesty in right of Canada to assist in carrying out the provisions of this Act. (personne autorisée)

  confidential information

  confidential information means information of any kind and in any form that relates to one or more persons and that is obtained by or on behalf of the Minister for the purposes of this Act, and any information that is prepared from such information, but does not include information that does not directly or indirectly reveal the identity of the person to whom it relates. (renseignement confidentiel)

  court of appeal

  court of appeal has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Criminal Code. (cour d’appel)

  official

  official means a person who is employed in the service of, who occupies a position of responsibility in the service of, or who is engaged by or on behalf of, Her Majesty in right of Canada or a province, or a person who was formerly so employed, who formerly occupied such a position or who formerly was so engaged. (fonctionnaire)

• Marginal note:Provision of information

  (2) Except as authorized under this section, no official shall knowingly

  • (a) provide, or allow to be provided, to any person any confidential information;

  • (b) allow any person to have access to any confidential information; or

  • (c) use any confidential information other than in the course of the administration or enforcement of this Act.

• Marginal note:Provision of information in legal proceedings

  (3) Despite any other Act of Parliament or other law, no official shall be required, in connection with any legal proceedings, to give or produce evidence relating to any confidential information.

• Marginal note:Communications where proceedings have been commenced

  (4) Subsections (2) and (3) do not apply in respect of

  • (a) criminal proceedings that have been commenced by the laying of an information or the preferring of an indictment under an Act of Parliament;

  • (b) any legal proceedings relating to the administration or enforcement of this Act, the Customs Act, the Export and Import Permits Act or any other Act of Parliament or law of a province that provides for the imposition or collection of a tax or duty, before a court of record, including a court of record in a jurisdiction outside Canada; or

  • (c) any legal proceedings under an international agreement relating to trade before

    • (i) a court of record, including a court of record in a jurisdiction outside Canada,

    • (ii) an international organization, or

    • (iii) a dispute settlement panel or an appellate body created under an international agreement relating to trade.

• Marginal note:Circumstances involving danger

  (5) The Minister may provide to appropriate persons any confidential information relating to imminent danger of death or physical injury to any individual.

• Marginal note:Disclosure of confidential information

  (6) An official may

  • (a) provide to a person any confidential information that may reasonably be regarded as necessary for the purpose of the administration or enforcement of this Act, solely for that purpose;

  • (b) provide to a person confidential information that can reasonably be regarded as necessary for the purposes of determining any liability or obligation of the person or any refund to which the person is or may become entitled under this Act;

  • (c) provide, allow to be provided, or allow inspection of or access to any confidential information to or by

    • (i) any person, or any person within a class of persons, that the Minister may authorize, subject to any conditions that the Minister may specify, or

    • (ii) any person otherwise legally entitled to the information by reason of an Act of Parliament, solely for the purposes for which that person is entitled to the information;

  • (d) provide confidential information

    • (i) to an official of the Department of Finance solely for the purposes of the administration of a federal-provincial agreement made under the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act,

    • (ii) to an official solely for the purpose of the formulation, evaluation or implementation of a fiscal or trade policy or for the purposes of the administration or enforcement of the Customs Act, the Export and Import Permits Act, any other Act of Parliament or law of a province that provides for the imposition or collection of a tax or duty or an international agreement relating to trade,

    • (iii) to an official solely for the purposes of the negotiation or implementation of an international agreement relating to trade,

    • (iv) to an official of the government of a province solely for the purposes of the formulation or evaluation of a fiscal or trade policy or any other policy relating to softwood lumber products,

    • (v) to an official of a department or agency of the Government of Canada or of a province as to the name, address, occupation, size or type of business of a person, solely for the purposes of enabling that department or agency to obtain statistical data for research and analysis,

    • (vi) to an official solely for the purposes of setting off, against any sum of money that may be payable by Her Majesty in right of Canada, a debt due to

      • (A) Her Majesty in right of Canada, or

      • (B) Her Majesty in right of a province on account of taxes payable to the province where an agreement exists between Canada and the province under which Canada is authorized to collect taxes on behalf of the province, or

    • (vii) to an official solely for the purposes of section 7.1 of the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act;

  • (e) provide confidential information to an official or any person employed by or representing the government of a foreign state, an international organization established by the governments of states, a community of states, or an institution of any such government or organization, in accordance with an international convention, agreement or other written arrangement relating to trade between the Government of Canada or an institution of the Government of Canada and the government of the foreign state, the organization, the community or the institution, solely for the purposes set out in that arrangement;

  • (f) provide confidential information solely for the purposes of sections 23 to 25 of the Financial Administration Act;

  • (g) use confidential information to compile information in a form that does not directly or indirectly reveal the identity of the person to whom the information relates;

  • (h) use, or provide to any person, confidential information solely for a purpose relating to the supervision, evaluation or discipline of an authorized person by Her Majesty in right of Canada in respect of a period during which the authorized person was employed by or engaged by or on behalf of Her Majesty in right of Canada to assist in the administration or enforcement of this Act, to the extent that the information is relevant for that purpose;

  • (i) provide access to records of confidential information to the Librarian and Archivist of Canada or a person acting on behalf of or under the direction of the Librarian and Archivist, solely for the purposes of section 12 of the Library and Archives of Canada Act, and transfer such records to the care and control of such persons solely for the purposes of section 13 of that Act;

  • (j) use confidential information relating to a person to provide information to that person; and

  • (k) provide confidential information to a police officer, within the meaning assigned by subsection 462.48(17) of the Criminal Code, solely for the purpose of investigating whether an offence has been committed under the Criminal Code, or the laying of an information or the preferring of an indictment, if

    • (i) that information can reasonably be regarded as being relevant for the purpose of ascertaining the circumstances in which an offence under the Criminal Code may have been committed, or the identity of the person or persons who may have committed an offence, with respect to an official, or with respect to any person related to that official,

    • (ii) the official was or is engaged in the administration or enforcement of this Act, and

    • (iii) the offence can reasonably be considered to be related to that administration or enforcement.

• Marginal note:Measures to prevent unauthorized use or disclosure

  (7) The person presiding at a legal proceeding relating to the supervision, evaluation or discipline of an authorized person may order any measures that are necessary to ensure that confidential information is not used or provided to any person for any purpose not relating to that proceeding, including

  • (a) holding a hearing in camera;

  • (b) banning the publication of the information;

  • (c) concealing the identity of the person to whom the information relates; and

  • (d) sealing the records of the proceeding.

• Marginal note:Disclosure to person or on consent

  (8) An official may provide confidential information relating to a person

  • (a) to that person; and

  • (b) with the consent of that person, to any other person.

• Marginal note:Appeal from order or direction

  (9) An order or direction that is made in the course of or in connection with any legal proceedings and that requires an official to give or produce evidence relating to any confidential information may, by notice served on all interested parties, be appealed without delay by the Minister or by the person against whom the order or direction is made to

  • (a) the court of appeal of the province in which the order or direction is made, in the case of an order or direction made by a court or other tribunal established under the laws of the province, whether that court or tribunal is exercising a jurisdiction conferred by the laws of Canada; or

  • (b) the Federal Court of Appeal, in the case of an order or direction made by a court or other tribunal established under the laws of Canada.

• Marginal note:Disposition of appeal

  (10) The court to which an appeal is taken under subsection (9) may allow the appeal and quash the order or direction appealed from or may dismiss the appeal, and the rules of practice and procedure from time to time governing appeals to the courts shall apply, with any modifications that the circumstances require, in respect of an appeal instituted under subsection (9).

• Marginal note:Stay

  (11) An appeal instituted under subsection (9) shall stay the operation of the order or direction appealed from until judgment is pronounced.

Collection

Marginal note:Definitions

• 85 (1) The following definitions apply in this section.

  action

  action means an action to collect a charge debt of a person and includes a proceeding in a court and anything done by the Minister under any of sections 88 to 93. (action)

  charge debt

  charge debt means any amount payable by a person under this Act. (dette fiscale)

  legal representative

  legal representative of a person means a trustee in bankruptcy, an assignee, a liquidator, a curator, a receiver of any kind, a trustee, an heir, an administrator, an executor, a liquidator of a succession, a committee, or any other similar person, administering, winding up, controlling or otherwise dealing in a representative or fiduciary capacity with any property, business, commercial activity or estate that belongs or belonged to, or that is or was held for the benefit of, the person or the person’s estate. (représentant légal)

• Marginal note:Debts to Her Majesty

  (2) A charge debt is a debt due to Her Majesty in right of Canada and is recoverable as such in the Federal Court or any other court of competent jurisdiction or in any other manner provided under this Act.

• Marginal note:Court proceedings

  (3) The Minister may not commence a proceeding in a court to collect a charge debt of a person in respect of an amount that may be assessed under this Act, unless when the proceeding is commenced the person has been or may be assessed for that amount.

• Marginal note:No actions after limitation period

  (4) The Minister may not commence an action to collect a charge debt after the end of the limitation period for the collection of the charge debt.

• Marginal note:Limitation period

  (5) The limitation period for the collection of a charge debt of a person

  • (a) begins

    • (i) if a notice of assessment in respect of the charge debt is mailed to the person, or a notice referred to in subsection 94(1) in respect of the charge debt is mailed to or served on the person, on the last day on which one of those notices is mailed or served, and

    • (ii) if no notice referred to in subparagraph (i) in respect of the charge debt was mailed or served, on the day on which the Minister can commence an action to collect that charge debt; and

  • (b) ends, subject to subsection (9), on the day that is 10 years after the day on which it begins.

• Marginal note:Limitation period restarted

  (6) The limitation period described in subsection (5) for the collection of a charge debt of a person restarts — and ends, subject to subsection (9), on the day that is 10 years after the day on which it restarts — on any day, before it would otherwise end, on which

  • (a) the person acknowledges the charge debt in accordance with subsection (7);

  • (b) the Minister commences an action to collect the charge debt; or

  • (c) the Minister, under subsection 89(7) or 95(4), assesses another person in respect of the charge debt.

• Marginal note:Acknowledgement of charge debts

  (7) A person acknowledges a charge debt if the person

  • (a) promises, in writing, to pay the charge debt;

  • (b) makes a written acknowledgement of the charge debt, whether or not a promise to pay can be inferred from the acknowledgement and whether or not it contains a refusal to pay; or

  • (c) makes a payment, including a purported payment by way of a negotiable instrument that is dishonoured, on account of the charge debt.

• Marginal note:Agent or legal representative

  (8) For the purposes of this section, an acknowledgement made by a person’s agent or mandatary or legal representative has the same effect as if it were made by the person.

• Marginal note:Extension of limitation period

  (9) In computing the day on which a limitation period ends, there shall be added the number of days on which one or more of the following is the case:

  • (a) the Minister has accepted and holds security in lieu of payment of the charge debt;

  • (b) if the person was resident in Canada on the applicable date described in paragraph (5)(a) in respect of the charge debt, the person is non-resident; or

  • (c) an action that the Minister may otherwise take in respect of the charge debt is restricted or not permitted under any provision of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act or of the Farm Debt Mediation Act.

• Marginal note:Assessment before collection

  (10) The Minister may not take any collection action under sections 88 to 93 in respect of any amount payable by a person that may be assessed under this Act, other than interest under section 34 or penalty under section 64 or 65, unless the amount has been assessed.

• Marginal note:Interest on judgments

  (11) If a judgment is obtained for any amount payable under this Act, including a certificate registered under section 88, the provisions of this Act by which interest is payable for a failure to pay an amount apply, with any modifications that the circumstances require, to the failure to pay the judgment debt, and the interest is recoverable in the same manner as the judgment debt.

• Marginal note:Litigation costs

  (12) If an amount is payable by a person to Her Majesty in right of Canada because of an order, judgment or award of a court in respect of the costs of litigation relating to a matter to which this Act applies, sections 88 to 94 apply to the amount as if it were payable under this Act.