A typo and citing the wrong legislation meant a company charged with importing endangered coral has walked free.
Splendid Trading Company was charged with importing octopus coral (galaxea fascicularis) without permission into Canada on Sept. 3, 2016, an incident that allegedly took place in Richmond.
The initial charge, however, contained the wrong name of the company – Splendid Training Company -- as well as the wrong section of the act.
The final charge with the corrected information was sworn on Sept. 20, 2018, about two years and two weeks after the incident.
The legislation governing coral imports – the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act - was changed in 2017.
Under the old legislation, charges needed to be laid within two years, whereas the new legislation allows five years to lay charges.
Looking at precedents of cases where legislation has changed between when an incident occurs and when it ends up in court, Madam Justice R. Raven came to the conclusion the limitation period in this case couldn’t be applied retroactively.
Therefore, charges fell under the older legislation based on when the alleged coral importing occurred, and the case was stayed.
Fines up to $50,000 could be imposed under the old legislation, whereas the 2017 legislation allows for fines between $25,000 and $2 million.
