Parliamentary Committee Notes: National Auto Theft Action Plan – CBSA Pillars Legislation, Regulations And Governance
Proposed Response
- The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) needs to receive the right information at the right time in order to identify and target shipments that may contain stolen vehicles while keeping the supply chain moving.
- The more information the CBSA is able to receive, the more the Agency can target containers and send information back to police and other partners so they can continue to target.
- The CBSA will review provisions under the Customs Act to determine whether we can expand our information sharing authorities to improve our ability to identify and interdict stolen vehicles.
- The CBSA will also review its regulatory frameworks to ensure that there are clear legal requirements for exporters to provide the Agency with timely and accurate information and that substantive financial penalties are in place to ensure compliance with these requirements.
Background
CBSA operations are supported by existing legislative or regulatory authorities that allow for examination, detention and seizure of stolen vehicles. However, as operational efforts increase and methods change (e.g. moving examinations away from sea ports to railyards), the CBSA is conducting a broad review of its authorities, export reporting regime and administrative frameworks, which are defined in legislation, regulations and policy, to determine if changes are required.
As a first step, the CBSA has begun a review of all existing legal analyses on export related matters including reporting requirements, monetary penalties, compliance authorities, Criminal Code violations, enforcement and investigations in order to identify opportunities and risks from a stolen vehicle perspective.
The CBSA will also explore potential legislative and regulatory proposals to broaden the scope of requirements for port of entry/exit terminal and warehouse owners/operators to ensure that CBSA has the spaces and facilities necessary to undertake enforcement activities.
A phased approach will be adopted to identify proposals that could be pursued in the near-term, such as proposals that already have policy cover or straight forward regulatory amendments, with longer-term initiatives to follow. Any identified legislative measures may also require supporting regulatory amendments, therefore additional time will be needed before these amendments can be fully enacted.
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