Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:
Marginal note: Short title
1 This Act may be cited as the Motor Vehicle Safety Act .
Marginal note: Definitions
2 In this Act,
means any equipment set out in Schedule I that is designed for use in or on a vehicle; ( équipement )
means a person designated as an automotive inspector pursuant to section 14; ( inspecteur )
, in relation to a vehicle, includes any process of assembling or altering the vehicle prior to its sale to the first retail purchaser; ( fabrication ou construction )
means the Minister of Transport; ( ministre )
means a prescribed expression, symbol or abbreviation or any combination of them; ( marque nationale de sécurité )
means prescribed by regulations made under section 11; ( Version anglaise seulement )
includes to offer for sale or lease, have in possession for sale or lease or deliver for sale or lease; ( vente )
means a standard that governs the design, manufacture, functioning or marking of vehicles or equipment for the purpose of reducing, directly or indirectly, the risk of death, injury or property damage from vehicle use, including a standard aimed at increasing the use of safety features by the public or facilitating the creation, recording or retrieval of information; ( norme )
means the Transportation Appeal Tribunal of Canada established by subsection 2(1) of the Transportation Appeal Tribunal of Canada Act ; ( Tribunal )
means any vehicle that is designed to be, or is capable of being, driven or drawn on roads by any means other than muscular power exclusively, but does not include any vehicle that is designed to run exclusively on rails. ( véhicule )
Marginal note: Exercise of powers
2.1 The Minister may, in writing, authorize any person designated by the Minister to exercise any of the Minister’s powers and duties under this Act, either generally or as otherwise provided in the instrument of authorization.
Marginal note: Administrative agreements
2.2 The Minister may enter into an agreement to further the purposes of this Act.
Marginal note: Contact person
2.3 A company designated by the Minister that applies a national safety mark to any vehicle or equipment, sells any vehicle or equipment to which a national safety mark has been applied or imports into Canada any vehicle or equipment of a class for which standards are prescribed is required to provide the Minister, for a purpose related to verifying compliance with this Act, with the contact information for a person for the purpose of correspondence.
Marginal note: National trademarks
Marginal note: Interprovincial shipments
4 Except as otherwise provided by the regulations, no company shall ship from one province to another, or deliver to any person for the purpose of being so shipped, any vehicle or equipment of a prescribed class manufactured in Canada unless it has a national safety mark applied to it in accordance with section 3.
Marginal note: Compliance by companies
Marginal note: Compliance by all persons importing vehicles
6 No person shall import into Canada a vehicle of a prescribed class unless the requirements of paragraphs 5(1)(a), (b), (d) and (e) are satisfied in respect of the vehicle.
Marginal note: Exceptions for certain importations
Marginal note: Analytical aids
8 A company that applies a national safety mark to any vehicle or equipment, sells any vehicle or equipment to which a national safety mark has been applied or imports any vehicle or equipment of a class for which standards are prescribed shall, on the Minister’s request, provide the Minister with the means to retrieve or analyze information created or recorded by the vehicle or equipment.
Marginal note: Power to order tests, analyses or studies
Marginal note: Exemption from standards
Marginal note: Notice of defect
Marginal note: Notice of non-compliance
Marginal note: Follow-up reports
10.2 A company that gives notice to the Minister shall submit reports to the Minister as provided for in the regulations.
Marginal note: Make information available
10.3 A company designated by the Minister that gives notice to the Minister in respect of a vehicle or equipment shall, as provided for in the regulations, make information available for the vehicle or equipment in respect of which the notice was given.
Marginal note: Correction date
Marginal note: Power to order correction of defect or non-compliance
10.5 The Minister may, by order, require any company that applies a national safety mark to any vehicle or equipment, sells any vehicle or equipment to which a national safety mark has been applied or imports any vehicle or equipment of a class for which standards are prescribed to correct a defect or non-compliance, in accordance with any terms and conditions specified in the order, if a notice of defect or non-compliance has been given and the Minister considers that it is in the interest of safety.
Marginal note: Correction
10.51 A company that is subject to an order made under section 10.5 may correct a defect or non-compliance by doing one of the following:
Marginal note: Available measures and benefits
10.52 For greater certainty, any person, including an automobile dealer, may benefit from any measure referred to in section 10.51 and any payment of costs under subsection 10.6(1).
Marginal note: Agreement
10.53 For greater certainty, nothing prevents a company that is subject to an order under subsection 10.1(7) or 10.4(4), section 10.5 or subsection 10.6(1) from entering into an agreement with any person, including an automobile dealer, in respect of any matter related to the order — including, in the case of a vehicle or equipment that has not been sold to the first retail purchaser, in respect of the reimbursement of reasonable costs incurred — in addition to complying with any terms and conditions specified in the order.
Marginal note: Rights not affected
10.54 For greater certainty, a correction to a vehicle or equipment in accordance with section 10.51 does not affect the right of any person, including an automobile dealer, to exercise any other right or remedy available at law, including a right or remedy to recover reasonable costs incurred as a result of an order under section 10.5.
Marginal note: Power to order payment of costs
Marginal note: Power to prohibit offering for sale — defect or non-compliance
Marginal note: Process
Marginal note: Power to vary or revoke order
10.8 The Minister may vary or revoke an order if new relevant information becomes available.
10.9 The Statutory Instruments Act does not apply to an order made under section 10.4, 10.5, 10.6 or 10.61.
Marginal note: Regulations
Marginal note: For greater certainty
12.1 For greater certainty, subsections 11(3) and 12(2) do not limit any authority to make regulations incorporating material by reference that exists apart from those subsections.
Marginal note: Interim order
Marginal note: Order to suspend, modify or adapt regulation
13.1 The Minister may issue an order, effective for a period not exceeding three years, that suspends, modifies or adapts a regulation, in whole or in part, if the Minister is of the opinion that it is in the public interest to do so, including to promote innovation or for reasons of safety.
Marginal note: Inspectors
Marginal note: Entry by inspector
Marginal note: Production of documents, information or electronic data
15.1 An inspector may, for a purpose related to verifying compliance with this Act, order a person, in writing, to provide, on the date, at the time and place and in the manner specified by the inspector, any document, information or electronic data specified by the inspector.
Marginal note: False statements
16 No person shall obstruct or hinder, or make any false or misleading statement either orally or in writing to, an inspector who is engaged in carrying out his or her functions.
Marginal note: Consent agreement
Marginal note: Regulations
16.1 The Governor in Council may, by regulation,
Marginal note: Designation of enforcement officers
Marginal note: Notices of violation
16.12 The Minister may establish the form and content of notices of violation.
Marginal note: Violation
Marginal note: Issuance of notice of violation
16.14 When an enforcement officer believes on reasonable grounds that a person has committed a violation, the enforcement officer may issue and serve on the person a notice of violation that names the person, identifies the violation and sets out
Marginal note: Service of documents
16.15 The Minister may establish procedures respecting the service of documents that are required or authorized under this Act, including the manner and proof of service and the circumstances under which documents are deemed to have been served. In the absence of those procedures, notices of violation may be served by personal service or by registered or certified mail sent to the person at their latest known address.
Marginal note: Payment
16.16 If a person who is served with a notice of violation pays the amount specified in the notice in accordance with the particulars set out in it, the Minister shall accept the amount as and in complete satisfaction of the amount of the penalty for the contravention and no further proceedings under this Act shall be taken against the person in respect of that contravention.
Marginal note: Failure to pay penalty deemed contravention
16.17 A person who fails to pay the amount of the penalty specified in a notice of violation within the specified time and who does not file a request for a review is deemed to have committed the contravention alleged in the notice.
Marginal note: Request for review
Marginal note: Determination by Tribunal member
16.19 At the conclusion of a review, the member of the Tribunal who conducts the review shall without delay inform the Minister and the person who is alleged to have committed a violation
Marginal note: Right of appeal
Marginal note: Certificate
16.21 The Minister may obtain from the Tribunal or the member, as the case may be, a certificate in the form established by the Governor in Council setting out the amount of the penalty required to be paid by a person who fails, within the time required,
Marginal note: Registration of certificate
Marginal note: Time limit for proceedings
16.23 Proceedings in respect of a violation may not be instituted later than two years after the time when the subject matter of the proceedings arose.
Marginal note: Publication
16.24 At any time after a notice of violation is issued and served, the Minister may make public the nature of a violation, the name of the person who committed it and the amount of the penalty.
Marginal note: Notations removed
Marginal note: Offence and punishment
Marginal note: Offence by employee or agent
Marginal note: Evidence
Marginal note: Forfeiture — conviction for offence
Marginal note: Forfeiture — on consent
19.2 If the owner of a seized vehicle, equipment or component consents to its forfeiture, the seized vehicle, equipment or component is forfeited to Her Majesty in right of Canada and may be stored and disposed of at the owner’s expense.
Marginal note: Powers of Minister
21 [Repealed, 1999, c. 33, s. 354]
22 and 23 [Repeals]
Marginal note: Coming into force
Footnote * 24 This Act shall come into force on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.
Return to footnote * [Note: Act in force April 12, 1995, see SI/95-40.]