The link #4 ... November 2001

The tax team of the Civil Law and Comparative Law Section of the Department of Justice of Canada is pleased to keep you posted on the most recent harmonization news.

Name and Branch Change for the Civil Code Section

The Civil Code Section shall henceforth be known as the Civil Law and Comparative Law Section. The new name is meant to better reflect the Section's mandate and the work it does within the Legislative Services Branch.

Bill S-23: adopted on October 26th, 2001

An Act to amend the Customs Act and to make related amendments to other Acts (Bill S-23) was assented to on October 25 and became Chapter 25 S.C. 2001. This act contains harmonization changes similar to those found in the Income Tax Amendments Act, 2000, i.e. the introduction of the civil law concepts "hypothec" and "liquidator of a succession". Furthermore, the civil law concept of "immovable" was introduced in the English version and the common law term bien réel in the French version.

Research contracts on Canadian Bijuralism

Three contracts have been awarded to law students enrolled in a graduate studies program in the field of taxation. Ylang Ha and Paul Lefebvre will provide us with further insight on the qualification of foreign entities. A third contract has been given to Véronique Denys who will analyse the concepts of "vested indefeasibly" / dévolu irrévocablement in the context of estate taxes. The first research contracts on Canadian bijuralism were granted in 2000-2001 on the retroactivity of conditional obligations (Marie-Pierre Allard), the concept of licence (Pascale Laroche) and the use of the concept of beneficial ownership in federal tax legislation (Simon Labrecque).

Second Publication

The second publication of studies on the harmonization of federal legislation with Quebec civil law is available on the Department of Justice's web page (Publications). Booklet no. 6 contains two articles on the new provisions of the Interpretation Act (section 8 of c.4 S.C. 2001 (Bill S-4)).