Organic Products Act, 2017 Tabuns, Peter Jones, Sylvia — Bill 153 (41st Parliament, 2nd Session)

Bill 153, 41-2

Ontario — Bills

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Bill 153, Organic Products Act, 2017

Tabuns, Peter

Jones, Sylvia

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Original

[41] Bill 153 Original (PDF)

EXPLANATORY

NOTE

The

Bill enacts the Organic Products Act, 2017 . The Act

prohibits the marketing and labelling of products as "organic" unless they have

been certified as organic in accordance with the Act. It also requires that the

Minister assigned the administration of the Act create a register of all

products that are certified as organic, and that the Minister periodically

update the register.

Bill 153 2017

Act to regulate the labelling and certification of organic products

CONTENTS

Interpretation

Interpretation

Certification of

Organic Products

Marketing

and labelling of organic products

Regulations

respecting organic certification

Agreement

with certification body

Inspections and

Enforcement

Appointment

of inspectors

obstruction

Powers

of inspectors

Warrant

required to enter dwelling

Warrant

to search and seize

Expiry

of warrant

Storage

and removal of things seized

Sharing

Information

Sharing

information

Organic Products

Register

Organic

Products Register

Offences

Offence

Presumption

about product

Evidence

of identification

Certificate

of analyst admissible

Administrative

Penalties

Administrative

penalties

Failure

to pay administrative penalty when required

Regulations

Fees

Regulations

Commencement and

Short Title

Commencement

Short

title

Her

Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the

Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

Interpretation

Interpretation

(1) In

this Act,

"advertisement"

means anything that directly or indirectly promotes the sale or other

distribution of a product; ("promotion")

"certification

body" means a person or body designated as a certification body under

section 3;

("organisme de certification")

"container"

means a receptacle, package, wrapper or confining band used or to be used in

connection with a product; ("contenant")

"inspector"

means a person appointed as an inspector under

section 5; ("inspecteur")

"label"

means a label, legend, word, mark, symbol, design, imprint, stamp, brand,

ticket or tag or any combination of these that is, or is to be, applied or

attached to a product or a container, or that accompanies or is to accompany a

product or container; ("étiquette")

"marketing"

means the preparation and advertisement of products, and includes the

conveyance, purchase and sale of products, and any other act necessary to make

products available for consumption or use; ("commercialisation")

"Minister"

means the Minister to whom the administration of this Act is assigned under the

Executive Council Act ; ("ministre")

"multi-ingredient

product" means a type of product composed of two or more products; ("produit

multi-ingrédients")

"organic

product" means a product that has been certified as organic in accordance with

this Act; ("produit biologique")

"person"

includes a partnership or an unincorporated association; ("personne")

"place"

includes a vehicle or other conveyance; ("lieu")

"preparation"

includes processing, slaughtering, storing, inspecting, grading, packing,

assembling, marking and labelling; ("conditionnement")

"prescribed"

means prescribed by the regulations; ("prescrit")

"product"

means a tangible good for sale, including,

(

a) an

animal, a plant, or a thing derived from an animal or plant, including any

food, drink, cosmetic or textile derived from an animal or plant, and

(

b) a

product prescribed by regulation; ("produit")

"register"

means the Organic Products Register described in

section 14; ("registre")

"regulations"

means the regulations made under this Act; ("règlements")

"sell"

includes,

(

a) agreeing

to sell, or offering, keeping, exposing, transmitting, conveying or delivering

for sale,

(

b) selling

by consignment,

(

c) exchanging

or agreeing to exchange, and

(

d) disposing

of or consenting to dispose of, in any manner, for a consideration. (" vendre ")

effect on Farm Products Marketing Act, Milk Act

(2) Nothing

in this Act affects the operation of the Farm Products

Marketing Act or the Milk Act .

Certification of Organic Products

Marketing

and labelling of organic products

2 No person shall

market or label a product using the term "organic", "biologique" or any other

prescribed term unless the product has been certified as organic in accordance

with this Act.

Regulations

respecting organic certification

3 The Minister may make

regulations respecting the certification of products as organic products,

including, but not limited to, regulations,

(

a) designating

as a certification body any person or body the Minister considers to be

knowledgeable about the principles and practices of organic certification;

(

b) respecting

the making of applications to a certification body by persons who wish to have

products certified as organic products;

(

c) respecting

procedures, criteria and standards for organic certification, including the

certification of multi-ingredient products;

(

d) prescribing

the period for which an organic certification remains in effect;

(

e) governing

the records to be kept in respect of certified organic products;

(

f) governing

the renewal, suspension and cancellation of an organic certification;

(

g) respecting

appeals from decisions by a certification body not to certify products as

organic products, or to suspend, cancel or not renew an organic certification.

Agreement

with certification body

4 The Minister may

enter into an agreement with a certification body respecting the certification

of products as organic products under this Act.

Inspections and Enforcement

Appointment

of inspectors

(1) The Minister

may appoint inspectors for the purposes of this Act.

Certificate

of appointment

(2) The

Minister or a person authorized in writing by the Minister shall issue to the

inspector a certificate of appointment bearing the Minister's signature or a

facsimile of it.

Proof

of appointment

(3) Every

inspector who exercises powers under this Act shall, on request, produce his or

her certificate.

obstruction

6 No person shall

obstruct an inspector who is exercising powers under this Act or provide an

inspector with false or misleading information.

Powers

of inspectors

(1) An

inspector may, subject to

section 8, enter and inspect any place, or stop any

vehicle, in which the inspector believes on reasonable grounds there is any

product that is labelled, is being marketed or is intended to be marketed as an

organic product.

Same

(2) The

inspector may,

(

a) open

any container that the inspector believes on reasonable grounds contains a

product;

(

b) inspect

any product or other thing and take samples of it free of charge;

(

c) require

any person to produce for inspection or copying, in whole or in part, any

record or other document that the inspector believes on reasonable grounds

contains any information relevant to the administration of this Act;

(

d) use

or cause to be used any computer or data processing system to examine any data

contained in or available to it;

(

e) obtain

data in the form of a printout or other intelligible output and take the

printout or other output for examination or copying; and

(

f) use

or cause to be used any copying equipment to make copies of any record or other

document.

Driver

of vehicle must stop

(3) When

an inspector signals or requests a person driving a vehicle to stop, the person

shall immediately bring the vehicle to a stop and shall not proceed until the

inspector permits the person to do so.

Records

(4) An

inspector may remove any records or documents that he or she is entitled to

examine or copy, but shall give a receipt to the person from whom they were

taken and promptly return them when the examination is completed.

Assistance

to inspectors

(5) The

owner or the person in charge of a place or vehicle inspected and any person

found in the place or vehicle must,

(

a) give

the inspector all reasonable assistance to enable the inspector to carry out

his or her duties under this Act; and

(

b) provide

the inspector with any information relevant to the administration of this Act

that the inspector reasonably requests.

Warrant

required to enter dwelling

(1) An

inspector shall not, without the consent of the occupier, exercise a power to

enter a place that is being used as a dwelling, except under the authority of a

search warrant issued under

section 158 of the Provincial

Offences Act or a warrant issued under subsection (2).

Authority

to issue warrant

(2) A

justice may issue a warrant authorizing an inspector named in the warrant to

enter the dwelling, subject to any conditions that may be specified in the warrant,

if the justice is satisfied on information under oath that there are reasonable

grounds to believe that,

(

a) the

conditions for entry described in subsection 7 (1) exist in relation to a

dwelling;

(

b) entry

to the dwelling is necessary for a purpose relating to the administration of

this Act; and

(

c) entry

to the dwelling has been refused or that there are reasonable grounds for believing

that entry will be refused.

Warrant

to search and seize

(1) A justice

may issue a warrant authorizing an inspector and any other person named in the

warrant to enter and search the place for a product or other thing, and to

seize and detain it, if the justice is satisfied on information under oath that

there are reasonable grounds to believe that,

(

a) an

offence under this Act has been committed; and

(

b) there

is to be found, in any place, a product or other thing that will afford

evidence in respect of the commission of an offence.

Additional

seizure powers

(2) An

inspector who executes a warrant issued under subsection (1) may exercise the

powers described in

section 7 and may seize, in addition to anything mentioned

in the warrant, any product or other thing,

(

a) by

means of which, or in relation to which, the inspector believes on reasonable

grounds that this Act has been contravened; or

(

b) that

the inspector believes on reasonable grounds will afford evidence in respect of

a contravention of this Act.

Where

warrant not necessary

(3) An

inspector may exercise any of the powers referred to in this

section without a

warrant if the conditions for obtaining a warrant exist but, by reason of

exigent circumstances, it would not be practical to obtain a warrant.

Expiry

of warrant

(1) A

warrant issued under this Act shall name a date on which it expires, which date

shall not be later than 30 days after its issue.

Extension

of time

(2) A

justice may extend the date on which the warrant expires for an additional

period of no more than 30 days on application without notice by the inspector

named in the warrant.

Police

assistance

(3) The

warrant authorizes the inspector named in the warrant to call on police

officers as necessary to execute the warrant.

Duty

to assist

(4) It

is the duty of every member of a police force called to render assistance under

subsection (3) to render the assistance.

Use

of force

(5) A

justice who issues a warrant under this Act may authorize the inspector named

in the warrant to use as much force as is reasonably necessary to execute the

warrant or to exercise any authority specified in the warrant.

Time

of execution

(6) Unless

otherwise ordered, the warrant shall be executed only during normal business

hours for the place named in the warrant.

Storage

and removal of things seized

(1) A

thing seized and detained under this Act may be stored by an inspector, or by

any person designated by an ins

Document details

Collection	Ontario — Bills
Citation	Bill 153, 41-2
Type	bill
Volume / chapter	p41 s2 bill 153 html
Language	en
Format	html
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	ec6e6874122be0a474ede94b4b6f48fdcf3cc783

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