Canada's Special Import Measures Act (SIMA) and the Canadian
International Trade Tribunal Act each contain provisions that create an
offence for failure to comply with a confidentiality undertaking entered
into under those statutes. Both offences include the maximum penalty of
a fine of up to CAD 1 million if the person is tried on indictment (or a
fine of up to CAD 100,000 upon summary conviction). Offences of this
nature are initiated on the consent of the Attorney General of Canada
and prosecuted by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada.
Additionally, counsel who has breached a disclosure
undertaking may
be ineligible to enter into future undertakings with the Canada Border
Services Agency (CBSA) or the Canadian International Trade Tribunal
(CITT), which would severely limit that person's ability to represent
clients in future cases before these bodies. In the normal course, one
might expect the first procedure to emanate from a complaint or motion
by the wronged party to the CITT or the CBSA, as the case may be.
Written by Darrel H. Pearson and Jessica B. Horwitz, and published Volume 10 of
Global Trade and Customs Journal, Issue 4, pp. 161–170.