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 Compliance
and Enforcement
Page Contents:
What are the changes
in December 2002?
In terms of powers and authorities, the changes
to compliance and enforcement resulting from the amendments are
not dramatic for the transition period of December 2002 through
April 2003. New defences are being introduced for contraventions
and prosecutions. The Government will focus on enforcing statutory
and regulatory provisions and standards amended into FDPs and
pre-existing silviculture prescriptions. New site level plans
that are not approved by the government cannot be enforced—only
the provisions contained in legislation and the contents of government
approved plans such as FDPs.
The overall intents for the changes to compliance
and enforcement are:
- to maintain
the existing two-tiered enforcement regime of administrative
remedies and prosecution through the transition; and
- to introduce
the concept of complete defence that will carry forward into
the FRPA.
Entry and
Inspection
Sections 107(4) and 112(3) of the Forest
Practices Code of British Columbia Act are amended to
introduce the ability for an official to require production of
a Site Plan for the purposes of inspecting and copying it. Previously,
the sections only allowed for a Licence, Permit, Operational Plan
or a Record to be inspected and copied.
Administrative
Proceedings and Prosecution Defences
There are three available defences to a contravention
or prosecution as defined in the new Section 119.1 of the Forest
Practices Code of British Columbia Act. These defences are:
- due diligence—doing
everything reasonable to avoid damage;
- mistake
of fact; and
- officially
induced error.
If a person who is alleged to have contravened
a provision of the acts can show, on a balance of probabilities,
that any one of the Defences applies, the person can not be found
to have contravened the specified provision or committed an offence.
As a result, the District Manager cannot issue the identified
orders or levy an administrative penalty against the person. In
the case of a prosecution, the person would not be subject to
a fine, imprisonment or other court-imposed punishment. This change
does not apply to any determinations or orders made before these
amendments came into force.
Limitation
of Liability
Sections 162.1 and 162.2 of the Forest
Practices Code of British Columbia Act have been added. In
specific circumstances where damage, that is not the fault of
the licencee, has occurred and significant expense would be involved
to rectify the damage, the licencee could be relieved of the obligation.
However, in the case of reforestation, the obligation will generally
remain, with the Government funding the extra expense associated
with addressing the damage that had occurred. Only in special
circumstances will the person be relieved of the obligation to
produce a free growing stand.
The intent of this change is to provide licencees
relief from the significant expense required to rectify damage
that was no fault of their own. It also provides the MOF a fair
and equitable time frame to identify workloads and perform the
required fieldwork to verify and/or audit declarations.
Irreparable
Damage Offence
Section 145 (4)(e) of the Forest Practices
Code of British Columbia Act contains additional circumstances
where a person does not commit an offence by causing irreparable
damage. These additional circumstances are specified in regulation.
Monetary Penalties
The amendments to the FPC result in new types
of contraventions that require associated remedies. Administrative
penalties for various infractions are set out in the Administrative
Remedies Regulation.
These amendments to monetary penalties will
ensure the current penalty provision regime is maintained throughout
the transition period. A new penalty regime will accompany the
FRPA.
Applicable
Legislation
Appendix
A 
(269Kb) summarizes the amendments to the Forest Practices
Code of British Columbia Act that impact compliance and enforcement.
The applicable regulation for Compliance and
Enforcement is the Administrative Remedies Regulation. Lists of
changes in this regulation can be found in
Appendix B
(388Kb) of this Primer.
Downloads
Recorded Presentations
Audio and slide presentations were made to
provide information to session participants from subject matter
experts. For
more information about the format and use of these files, click
here. (A new browser window will be opened: close that window
to return to this page).
We have provided the Powerpoint overheads,
a transcription of the session, a PDF file of the overhead handouts
(3 slides per page), and the full presentation with audio.
- Compliance
and Enforcement
- C&E
Question and Answer
Written Materials
This page
last revised:
February 4, 2003 9:17 AM
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