Request a Review of an Administrative Monetary Penalty

How to Request a Review of an Administrative Monetary Penalty ("AMP")

Under the Environmental Violations Administrative Monetary Penalties Act and Environmental Violations Administrative Monetary Penalties Regulations, AMPs may be issued in respect of prescribed violations of the following statutes:

  • Antarctic Environmental Protection Act and its regulations,
  • Canada Wildlife Act and its regulations,
  • Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 and its regulations,
  • Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act and its regulations,
  • International River Improvements Act and its regulations,
  • Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994 and its regulations, and;
  • Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act and its regulations.

The Review Process:

  1. You must request a review within 30 days of being served with a notice of violation under the Environmental Violations Administrative Monetary Penalties Act. The 30-day time limit for filing a request for review may be extended by the Chief Review Officer. In general, however, you should not rely on receiving an extension. The sooner the request for a review is made to the Chief Review Officer, the sooner the AMP will be reviewed.

  2. The request for a review must be sent to the Chief Review Officer at the Environmental Protection Tribunal of Canada. The request must be in writing and signed by the person, ship or vessel seeking review or that person's representative (e.g., lawyer). We encourage applicants to use the Tribunal’s request for review form that is available on our website in order to ensure that all of the required information is included in your request.

  3. The request must include the following information:
    1. The name and address for service of the person, ship or vessel requesting the review;
    2. A copy of the AMP (notice of violation) you wish to have reviewed;
    3. The reasons why you are requesting a review of the AMP in sufficient detail for the Chief Review Officer to understand your grounds of objection, including whether you are disputing whether you committed a violation and/or whether the penalty was calculated properly.


  4. At the same time a request for review is filed with the Tribunal, the applicant must serve a copy of the request on the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada. This should be done by serving the documents on the appropriate Regional Office of Environment and Climate Change Canada in the region where the AMP was issued or where the Applicant is located. You may wish to consult the directory of addresses to find the right Regional Office.

  5. To expedite the review, a request may be filed with the Tribunal in electronic format by sending it to: tribunal@eptc-tpec.gc.ca. Please note that a request for review must also be filed in hard copy with the Tribunal. Documents other than the initial request for review may be filed with the Tribunal in electronic format without the need for an additional hard copy.

Once the request is received by the EPTC

  1. After the Tribunal receives a complete request for a review, it will send a letter or an email to the applicant confirming receipt and assigning a case name and case number to the file. This case information will also be shared with Environmental and Climate Change Canada officials who will be asked to identify the counsel who will be representing the Minister in this specific case. Please note that the case name and the case number should be used on all documents or other material filed during the course of the review.

  2. Once officials at Environment and Climate Change Canada receive the copy of a request for review that the applicant has served on them, they must, within 30 business days, disclose to the applicant the portion of their files that relate to the AMP and send an electronic copy of the material to the Tribunal. Thus, the applicant will have all of the material from Environment and Climate Change Canada that is relevant to the AMP. The Tribunal will add the information to its public record.

  3. In most cases, the Tribunal will contact the applicant (or applicant's representative) to arrange a pre-hearing conference. The pre-hearing conference provides an opportunity to clarify issues, establish a timetable and the procedures that will govern the particular case, and decide how confidential information (if any) or expert witnesses will be handled. For many cases, the pre-hearing conference will be a telephone conference call presided over by a Review Officer. In more complex cases, the pre-hearing conference may involve a meeting of the parties and their representatives with a Review Officer. After the pre-hearing conference, the Review Officer will usually issue directions regarding procedures, timing and any other matters that have been dealt with before the hearing. The directions will complement the Draft Rules of Procedure and Practice Directives that guide the Review Officers.

  4. In some cases, the areas of dispute between Environment and Climate Change Canada and the applicant for a review may be suitable for mediation. In such cases, the Chief Review Officer will assign a mediator, who will generally not be the Review Officer assigned to the case, to conduct a mediation in the hope of settling the matter without a hearing. Even where mediation does not settle all the issues under dispute, it may allow the applicant and Environment and Climate Change Canada to agree on what matters should be brought before the Review Officer at a hearing.

The Hearing

  1. The applicant for a review is entitled to appear in person (or through a representative) before the Tribunal. Counsel will appear on behalf of Environment and Climate Change Canada and the presiding Review Officer may also be advised by counsel. The hearings will often be held near where the applicant resides or where the matter that gave rise to the AMP is located. Hearings may also be heard in writing, by teleconference call or by video conference. Applicants are entitled to present their evidence in either official language and be heard by a Review Officer fluent in that language. Where the applicant or witnesses wish to present evidence in a language other than French or English, the Tribunal must be notified and the applicant must provide expert translators or interpreters.

    The Tribunal will attempt to schedule hearings as quickly as possible to suit the convenience of the parties.

After the hearing

  1. The Tribunal will issue a decision within 30 days after the end of the hearing. The decision of the Tribunal in respect of an AMP is final and binding and, except for judicial review under the Federal Courts Act, is not subject to appeal or to review by any court.

Additional Information

Applicants for a review of an AMP should also refer to the Draft Rules of Procedure and Practice Directives the Tribunal.

Additional questions can be directed to the Registry Office of the Tribunal:

Environmental Protection Tribunal of Canada
344 Slater Street, 15th Floor, Suite 100
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0B6
Canada
Email: tribunal@eptc-tpec.gc.ca