Short Title
This Act may be cited as the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority Act.
Interpretation
The definitions in this section apply in this Act.
Authority means the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority established by subsection 5(1). (Administration)
authorized aerodrome operator means an operator of an aerodrome designated by the regulations who is authorized by the Authority under section 7 to deliver screening. (exploitant d’aérodrome autorisé)
board means the board of directors of the Authority established by section 10. (conseil)
Minister means the Minister of Transport. (ministre)
screening means screening, including a search, performed in the manner and under the circumstances prescribed in aviation security regulations, security measures, emergency directions or interim orders made under the Aeronautics Act. (contrôle)
screening contractor means a contractor retained by the Authority or an authorized aerodrome operator to deliver screening. (fournisseur de services de contrôle)
screening officer means a screening officer who is employed by the Authority, an authorized aerodrome operator or a screening contractor to perform screening. (agent de contrôle)
screening point means a point where screening is delivered, either directly or through a screening contractor, by the Authority or by an authorized aerodrome operator acting on behalf of the Authority, in order to meet the requirements of aviation security regulations, security measures, emergency directions or interim orders made under the Aeronautics Act. (point de contrôle)
Unless the context otherwise requires, words and expressions used in this Act have the same meaning as in the Aeronautics Act and the aviation security regulations made under it.
Unless specifically provided for, nothing in this Act affects air transport security responsibilities imposed under the Aeronautics Act on persons other than the Authority.
In the event of any inconsistency between the provisions of this Act and the provisions of Part X of the Financial Administration Act, the provisions of this Act prevail.
Role of the Minister
The Minister is the appropriate minister for the Authority for the purposes of Part X of the Financial Administration Act.
The Minister may issue a written direction to the Authority, addressed to the Chairperson, on any matter related to air transport security.
The Authority and its directors, officers and employees of the Authority must comply with a direction issued under this section.
Compliance with the direction is deemed to be in the best interests of the Authority.
A direction is not a statutory instrument for the purposes of the Statutory Instruments Act.
Establishment and Mandate of the Authority
There is hereby established a body corporate to be called the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority.
The Authority is for all purposes an agent of Her Majesty in right of Canada.
The headquarters of the Authority must be at such place in Canada as may be designated by the Governor in Council.
The Authority’s financial year begins on April 1 of one year and ends on March 31 of the following year, unless the Governor in Council directs otherwise.
The Authority’s mandate is to take actions, either directly or through a screening contractor, for the effective and efficient screening of persons who access aircraft or restricted areas through screening points, the property in their possession or control and the belongings or baggage that they give to an air carrier for transport.
For the purposes of subsection (1), a restricted area is an area designated as a restricted area under the Aeronautics Act at an aerodrome designated by the regulations or at any other place, including any other aerodrome, designated by the Minister.
The Authority is responsible for ensuring consistency in the delivery of screening across Canada and for any other air transport security function provided for in this Act. It is also responsible for air transport security functions that the Minister may assign to it, subject to any terms and conditions that the Minister may establish.
The Authority must carry out its responsibilities under this section in the public interest, having due regard to the interest of the travelling public. Those responsibilities are a governmental function.
The Authority may authorize the operator of an aerodrome designated by the regulations to deliver screening on its behalf at that aerodrome, either directly or through a screening contractor, subject to any terms and conditions that the Authority may establish.
The Authority may not authorize the operator to deliver screening unless it is satisfied that the operator can meet the terms and conditions established by the Authority and deliver screening efficiently and effectively, having regard to the following factors:
the cost and service advantages;
the operator’s capability to deliver screening; and
how screening, if done by the operator, would be integrated with other security functions at the aerodrome.
The Authority may, in the terms and conditions of an authorization, agree to make payments to the authorized aerodrome operator to compensate them for the reasonable costs incurred by them in delivering screening.
An authorized aerodrome operator does not become an agent of Her Majesty by reason only of delivering screening under an authorization.
The Authority must establish criteria respecting the qualifications, training and performance of screening contractors and screening officers, that are as stringent as or more stringent than the standards established in the aviation security regulations made under the Aeronautics Act.
The Authority must certify all screening contractors and officers against the criteria established under subsection (1).
If the Authority determines that a screening contractor or officer no longer meets the criteria in respect of which they were certified, the Authority may vary, suspend or cancel their certification.
The Authority may establish contracting policies specifying minimum requirements respecting wages and terms and conditions of employment that persons must meet in order to be awarded a contract by or on behalf of the Authority for the delivery of screening. The Authority must establish such policies if required to do so by the Minister.
The Authority must establish policies and procedures for contracts for services and for procurement that ensure that the Authority’s operational requirements are always met and that promote transparency, openness, fairness and value for money in purchasing.
Legal Powers of the Authority
In carrying out its mandate, the Authority has, subject to this Act, the capacity, rights, powers and privileges of a natural person.
Structure of the Authority
Board
There shall be a board of directors of the Authority consisting of eleven directors, including the Chairperson, appointed by the Governor in Council on the recommendation of the Minister.
Two of the directors must be nominees submitted by the representatives of the airline industry designated under section 11 whom the Minister considers suitable for appointment as directors, and two must be nominees submitted by the representatives of aerodrome operators designated under that section whom the Minister considers suitable for appointment as directors.
Each director holds office during pleasure for any term of not more than five years that will ensure, as far as possible, the expiry in any one year of the terms of office of not more than one half of the directors.
If the Governor in Council has not appointed all of the directors referred to in subsection (1) but the number appointed constitutes a quorum, the directors who have been appointed may exercise all the powers of the board.
The Minister may designate representatives or classes of representatives of the airline industry and of aerodrome operators to propose nominees to the Minister for appointment to the board.
The directors must be persons who, in the opinion of the Governor in Council, have the experience and the capacity required for discharging their duties and functions.
No person may be appointed or continue as a director of the Authority who
is not a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act;
is a member of the Senate or House of Commons or a member of a legislature;
is employed on a full-time basis in the public service of Canada or of a province; or
is a mayor, councillor, officer or employee of a municipality.
The Governor in Council may renew the term of office of any director for a maximum of one further term of not more than five years.
The directors must carry out the duties and functions of their office on a part-time basis.
The directors must be paid by the Authority the remuneration fixed by the Governor in Council for each day that they attend meetings of the board or any of its committees or perform other duties required of them as directors of the Authority.
The directors are entitled to be paid reasonable travel and living expenses incurred by them in the course of performing their duties while absent from their ordinary place of residence.
Chairperson
The Chairperson must preside at meetings of the board and exercise any powers and perform any duties and functions that are assigned by the by-laws of the Authority.
Chief Executive Officer
The chief executive officer of the Authority is to be appointed by the Governor in Council to hold office during pleasure for any term that the Governor in Council considers appropriate.
The chief executive officer is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Authority.
In the event of the absence or incapacity of, or a vacancy in the office of, the chief executive officer, the board may appoint an employee of the Authority to exercise the powers and perform the duties and functions of the chief executive officer, but the employee has no authority to act as chief executive officer for a period exceeding 90 days without the approval of the Governor in Council.
The chief executive officer may not be appointed as a director.
The chief executive officer must carry out the duties and functions of his or her office on a full-time basis.
The Authority must pay the chief executive officer the remuneration fixed by the Governor in Council.
The chief executive officer is entitled to be paid reasonable travel and living expenses incurred in the course of performing his or her duties while absent from his or her ordinary place of work.
Role of the Board
The board is responsible for the management of the activities and affairs of the Authority.
The board may make by-laws respecting the management and conduct of the activities and affairs of the Authority and the carrying out of the duties and functions of the board, including by-laws establishing
a code of ethics for the directors, officers and employees of the Authority;
committees of the board, including a human resources committee and an audit committee; and
contracting policies for the Authority.
Staff
The Authority may employ any officers, employees or agents and retain the services of any technical or professional advisers that it considers necessary for the proper conduct of its activities and affairs and may fix the terms and conditions of their engagement.
The Chairperson, the chief executive officer and the directors, officers and employees of the Authority are deemed to be employees for the purposes of the Government Employees Compensation Act and to be employed in the public service of Canada for the purposes of any regulations made under section 9 of the Aeronautics Act.
The provision of screening at an aerodrome is conclusively deemed for all purposes to be a service that is necessary to prevent immediate and serious danger to the safety of the public.
Contracts, Agreements and Arrangements
The Authority may enter into contracts, agreements or other arrangements with Her Majesty as if it were not an agent of Her Majesty.
The Authority may enter into agreements with Her Majesty represented by the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness or by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for the provision of services, including services on aircraft, and may make payments in respect of those services.
The Authority may, with the approval of the Treasury Board, enter into agreements with the operator of any aerodrome designated by regulation for the purposes of contributing to the costs of policing incurred by that operator in carrying out their responsibilities.
Every operator of an aerodrome designated by the regulations must provide to the Authority, and maintain free of charge, such space at the aerodrome with services reasonably required by the Authority as the Authority and the operator agree on or, in the absence of agreement, such space at the aerodrome with services reasonably required by the Authority as the Minister determines to be necessary to enable the Authority to carry out its mandate.
The Authority may, with the Minister’s approval and subject to any terms and conditions that the Minister may establish, enter into an agreement respecting the delivery of screening referred to in subsection 6(1) with any person who requests the delivery of such screening.
Despite subsection (2), if the Authority delivers screening for which payment of an amount is required from the other party under the terms of an agreement entered into under subsection (1), the delivery of that screening is deemed, for the purposes of recovering that amount, not to be a duty of the Authority under this Act.
Audit
The Auditor General of Canada is the auditor of the Authority.
Security-related Information
Nothing in this Act, Part X of the Financial Administration Act or the Statutory Instruments Act shall be construed as requiring the tabling before either House of Parliament of any information the publication of which, in the opinion of the Minister, would be detrimental to air transport security or public security.
The Authority, authorized aerodrome operators and screening contractors must keep confidential any information the publication of which, in the opinion of the Minister, would be detrimental to air transport security or public security, including financial and other data that might reveal such information.
Five-year Review
A review of the provisions and the operation of this Act must be completed by the Minister during the fifth year after this section comes into force.
The Minister must cause a report of the results of the review to be laid before each House of Parliament on any of the first fifteen days on which that House is sitting after the report has been completed.
Regulations
The Governor in Council may make regulations
designating aerodromes for the purposes of this Act; and
requiring the Authority to provide to the Minister such information as the Minister may request.
Transitional Provisions
Despite any other provision of this Act, pending the initial appointment of the directors, the Chairperson and any directors who have been appointed have all the powers of the board even if their number does not constitute a quorum.
The Governor in Council may require the Air Transport Security Corporation to transfer to the Authority, on such terms as the Governor in Council considers appropriate, good title in any or all screening equipment or other assets owned by the Corporation immediately before the coming into force of this section, free and clear of all liens and encumbrances, for such consideration as the Governor in Council may determine, having regard to the amount that the Corporation paid to acquire it as well as other relevant factors.
The Governor in Council may require the Air Transport Security Corporation to transfer to the Authority, on such terms as the Governor in Council considers appropriate, any rights, titles, interests or obligations under any contract entered into by the Corporation that is specified by the Minister, despite any contractual restriction on the transfer of those rights, titles, interests or obligations.
The Governor in Council may require air carriers to transfer to the Authority, on such terms as the Governor in Council considers appropriate, their rights, titles, interests or obligations under any contract respecting screening specified by the Minister, despite any contractual restriction on the transfer of those rights, titles, interests or obligations.
The transfer to the Authority of responsibility for any existing contracts under this section does not affect any rights, responsibilities or obligations acquired under the Canada Labour Code by the contractors, their employees or any trade union certified to represent those employees.
The Governor in Council may transfer to the Authority any screening equipment owned by Her Majesty, including explosive detection equipment, on such terms and conditions as the Governor in Council considers appropriate.
The Governor in Council may transfer to the Authority, on such terms as the Governor in Council considers appropriate, Her Majesty’s rights, titles, interests or obligations under any contract entered into by the Minister before the coming into force of this section respecting a subject-matter that is within the mandate of the Authority.
The Authority must accept any transfer made under this section.
The amount of 340 million dollars is appropriated to the Minister from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for payment to the Authority for operating and capital expenditures incurred by it in the fiscal year 2002-2003 in carrying out its mandate, including payments made to authorized aerodrome operators and contributions made to designated airport authorities.
The Authority may enter into an agreement with an air carrier in order to contribute to the costs of screening at an aerodrome designated by regulation, if the costs are incurred by the air carrier after the day on which this section comes into force and before the day on which the Authority is required under the Aeronautics Act to deliver that screening.
Despite the period prescribed for submitting a corporate plan, an operating budget and a capital budget under the Financial Administration Act, the Authority must, within six months after the coming into force of this section, submit to the Minister in accordance with that Act a corporate plan, an operating budget and a capital budget for its first financial year.
Until the initial corporate plan, operating budget and capital budget for the Authority have been approved, the Authority may, despite sections 122 to 124 of the Financial Administration Act, expend funds, with the approval of the Minister, that the board considers to be essential for the Authority to become fully operational in a timely manner.