Canada

TECHNICAL COMPLIANCE ANNEX
shorter period as ordered by a court. Non-financial documents or records must be kept by the
corporation until the corporation is dissolved; and then for another six years or less period as
ordered by a court. The CRA, in partnership with the National Archivist of Canada, retains documents
obtained or created by the CRA for various periods of time depending on the nature of the
information. In relation to questions of beneficial ownership, the relevant retention periods are five
to ten years, in some instances indefinitely.
Other Requirements
Technical compliance Annex
Criterion 24.10— Some basic company information is publicly available on various federal and
provincial government websites and is therefore available to the authorities in a timely fashion. For
information that is not publicly available, a wide range of law enforcement powers are available to
obtain beneficial ownership information, including search warrants, using informants, surveillance
techniques, wiretaps and production orders, and public sources (e.g.: law enforcement databases,
city databases, corporate companies, civil proceedings, bankruptcy records, divorce records, civil
judgments, land titles and purchase, building permits, credit bureau, insurance companies, liquor
and gambling licenses, death records, inheritance, shipping registers, federal aviation, trash
searches, automobile dealerships) and private source information searches. To be able to compel an
FI to produce records pertaining to the control or ownership structure of a legal entity or legal
arrangement, LEAs must first establish the link between a legal entity and a specific FI. Several tools
are available to this effect (e.g.: grid search request to all D-SIBs to establish if they count the target
person amongst their customers, VIRs to FINTRAC, requests to Equifax, mortgage and loan checks ,
consultations of NEPS to obtain an economic profile of an individual or private or public company).
Investigative techniques may also be used (e.g. informants, witnesses, wiretaps). The RCMP may also
request information from the CRA once charges have been laid in a criminal case, and on the basis of
a judicial authorization. Prior to the prosecution stage, a tax order under the CC can be obtained for
the RCMP to receive tax information from the CRA on a specific entity. Since 2014, the CRA may also
share information with the RCMP on its own motion in cases where the CRA considers that there are
reasonable grounds to believe that the information in its possession would provide evidence of listed
serious offenses, including ML, bribery, drug trafficking and TF. In relation to tax crimes, the CRA CID
may also obtain information. The relevant Director under each corporate statute—in the case of the
CBCA the Director of Corporations Canada— also has the authority to inspect a corporation’s
records. Once it is established that a specific RE maintains a business relationship with a legal entity,
LEAs may obtain a court order and deploy the measures available under criminal procedures to
obtain, compel the production of, or seize relevant information—including beneficial ownership
information—from any person, as discussed under R.31.
Criterion 24.11— Bearer shares are permitted both under the CBCA and several provincial
company laws (for companies limited by shares). 127 While the CBCA generally requires the issuance
of shares to be in registered form, the CBCA also makes provision for the issuance of certain types of
shares in bearer form. In the absence of an express prohibition, the CBCA, therefore, still leaves some
127 Quebec, Prince Edward Island, North-Western Territories and Nunavut allow for the issuance of registered
shares only.
166
Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures in Canada - 2016 © FATF and APG 2016