Regulatory Offences (Sentencing)
General Principles
Sentencing of corporate offenders for regulatory offences should consider:
- the conduct, circumstances and consequences of the offence,
- the terms and aims of the relevant enactment or regulation, considered in the larger context of comparable regulation and legitimate corporate functioning in the relevant areas, and
- the participation, character and attitude of the corporation offender, considered in the larger context of corporations engaged in relevant industrial or business activity,
all with a view of identifying the aggravating and mitigating factors. [1]
For the most part the enforcement of the violated regulations can be achieved by the imposition of fines.[2]
The primary objective of the fine is deterrence.[3]
The amount of a fine will be determined based on factors including:[4]
- the size of the company involved,
- the scope of the economic activity in issue,
- the extent of actual and potential harm to the public,
- the maximum penalty prescribed by the statute,
- the need to enforce regulatory standards by deterrence.
- ↑
R v General Scrap Iron & Metals Ltd., 2003 ABQB 22 (CanLII) at para 35
- ↑ R v Cotton Felts Ltd., (1982), 2 C.C.C (3d) 287 (Ont. C.A.) at pp. 294-295 ("To a very large extent the enforcement of [regulatory] statutes is achieved by fines imposed on offending corporations.")
- ↑
see discussion R v Canadian Consoli, 2013 ABPC 120 (CanLII) at para 10
- ↑ Cotton Felts Ltd.