Canadian Tire Case Summary

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Facts
Since January 1st 1999, it had been illegal to import products into Canada containing dichlorodifluoromethane, a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) also described as CFC 12 or R12. In the year 1999, over 4000 of Canadian Tire’s imported fridges contained CFC. However, any fridges imported before January 1st 1999 containing CFC could still be sold until the existing supply was depleted. By April of 2000, inspectors across the country, together with the investigation Branch of Environment Canada became aware that Canadian Tire’s fridges which were retailed to the public had CFC labels. The government had then been concerned with whether or not these fridges were from before or after January 1st, 1999. On May 2nd 2000, Canadian Tire’s director of …show more content…

Moreover, the Canadian Tire had “ample expertise” to ensure the compliance of all the policies and requirements. As indicated by the court, Canadian Tire was supposed to be familiar with the properties of goods and services that the company is importing for sale to the public in Canada. However, the court arrived at a conclusion that the company was “not aware” of the fact that they were importing and selling fridges that contained CFC compressors after January 1, 1999. Furthermore, the judge added that there was no sufficient training provided to the employees regarding the federal environmental legislation that could ensure the import and distribution of only CFC free fridges in Canada. Although, the court did acknowledge the fact that Canadian Tire did not have any previous history of environmental legislation infraction. The Haier bar fridges imported by the company contained a total of 158 kilograms of CFCs, which had the potential to cause tremendous harm to the environment; however, the court decided to impose a penalty on what actually happened rather than what could have happened (well-known principle). The judge dismissed the possibility that Canadian Tire had purposely defied the law. The court recognized that the Canadian Tire made minor efforts to adhere to the Canadian environmental laws. …show more content…

It was determined that the defendant had “had ample expertise" available to it to ensure it complied with the law”, and did not do everything in their power to ensure that the fridges they were importing were in fact, CFC free, as promised by the supplier. When dealing with foreign supplies, companies must exercise due diligence to ensure that these companies are being truthful in their reports, and are providing products that are compliant with the regulations of the country they are being provided for, through random checks, testing, and auditing of imported

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