Page 79 - CCGA Best Practices Version English

6-5: Penalties

Practice Statement: Compliance programs include penalties for violations
of the damage prevention laws or regulations.
Practice Description: Within the context of Regulations, there are specific
provisions for enforcement for failure to comply with the damage prevention
laws and regulations.
A penalty system includes education as an alternative or supplement to other
penalties (see above).
A penalty system also uses a tiered structure to distinguish violations by the
level of severity or repeat offences (e.g. Legal Orders, Tickets, Administrative
Penalties, Prosecution Fines, Imprisonment).
A penalty system does not allow any violator or class of violators to be
shielded from the consequences of a violation (i.e. all stakeholders should be
accountable).

6-6: Enforcement by Existing Authority

Practice Statement: An authority is specified through statutes and given
the resources to enforce the law.
Practice Description: Enforcement authorities have the resources to
enforce the laws and regulations. Experience has demonstrated that
enforcement of the laws and regulations that did not identify a specific
authority have not been effective.
Characteristics of such an authority include:
• A process for receiving reports of violations from any stakeholder;
• An operating budget source other than fine revenue, excluding fines as a
source of income for the authority;
• Stakeholder involvement in periodic review and modification of
enforcement processes;

• Resources to respond to notifications of alleged violations in a timely
manner;
• A method of investigating alleged violations prior to issuing a notice of
probable violation;
• An initial informal means of contesting a notice of violation; and
• A published violation review process and violation assessment
considerations.

Canadian Common Ground Alliance
Best Practices Version 3.0 – October 2018
71