Policy 16.8 - Stopping Vessels

Effective Date: 31-July-97
Updated: September-05
Responsible Branch: Compliance and Enforcement Branch

Scope

This policy covers the stopping of vessels by Officials pursuant to their authority under section 60 of the Forest and Range Practices Act [FRPA] and Section 21 of the Wildfire Act [WA].

Section 60 of FRPA reads as follows:
Inspection of vehicle or vessel carrying forest or range products
For any purpose related to the administration and enforcement of the Acts, an official or a peace officer may

	(a)	require a person operating a vehicle or vessel to stop the vehicle or vessel, and
	(b)	carry out an inspection of a vehicle or vessel, if the official or peace officer has reasonable grounds to believe that
	(c)	the vehicle or vessel contains or is transporting timber, special forest products, seed, botanical forest products or hay, or
	(d)	a person is contravening or has contravened one or more provisions of the Acts.

Section 21 of the WA reads as follows:
Inspection of vehicle or vessel
An official or peace officer, who has reasonable grounds to believe that there is anything that is in or on a vehicle or vessel and is relevant to a contravention by any person of this Act or the regulations, may

	(a)	require the person operating the vehicle or vessel to stop the vehicle or vessel, and
	(b)	carry out an inspection of the vehicle or vessel.

Purpose

To provide Officials with guidance and direction on the stopping of vehicles in the performance of their duties.

Definitions

"Acts" means the Range Act, the Wildfire Act, the Forest Act, the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act, and the Forest and Range Practices Act, and their Regulations.

"C&E Leader" means a District Compliance Leader, a Regional Compliance and Enforcement Manager and a Fire Centre Compliance and Enforcement Leader.

"CIMS" means the Compliance Information Management System.

"ERA" means the Enforcement and Review Administrative system.

"Official" means a Ministry employee who has been so designated pursuant to the FRPA and or the WA.

"vessel" means a boat, ship, watercraft, barge or boom under tow by a vessel, or any boom of logs secured or unsecured.

Policy

It is Ministry policy that:

Only those Officials who perform a compliance and enforcement function may exercise the authority to stop vessels pursuant to section 60 of the FRPA or section 21 of the WA.

No Official will exercise their authority to stop any vessel until they are familiar with this policy, all safety procedures and receive approval to do so by their C&E Leader. Approval may be comprehensive rather than case by case.

A C&E Leader may direct an Official that he or she may not stop a vessel until such time as the C&E Leader is comfortable with the Official's level of training and or experience necessary to safely conduct such an action.

Officials may stop vessels for the purpose of inspecting for compliance with the Forest Act, the Forest and Range Practices Act, the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act, the Wildfire Act and their Regulations.

All safety standards as prescribed by the Workers Compensation Act will be adhered to during the course of any vessel inspection. Any vessel inspection will consider public and staff safety as the highest priority.

Vessel inspections on busy waterways that have a significant level of public usage may require prior consultation with the local police detachment.

Where any vessel refuses to stop or otherwise co-operate during the course of any inspection, Officials may request the assistance of the local police detachment and or the Coast Guard. Where any vessel is being operated by an agent, contractor or employee of the holder of an agreement under the Forest Act, an Official may seek the assistance of the agreement holder in obtaining the operator's co-operation.

All vessel inspections will be documented and recorded in CIMS or ERA as the circumstances require.

References

• Forest Act,
• Forest and Range Practices Act,
• Forest Practices Code Act of British Columbia,
• Wildfire Act, and
• Workers Compensation Act.