Regulations Amending the Special Economic Measures (People’s Republic of China) Regulations: SOR/2024-253

Canada Gazette, Part II, Volume 158, Number 26

Registration
SOR/2024-253 December 9, 2024

SPECIAL ECONOMIC MEASURES ACT

P.C. 2024-1291 December 9, 2024

Whereas the Governor in Council is of the opinion that gross and systematic human rights violations have been committed in the People’s Republic of China;

Therefore, Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, makes the annexed Regulations Amending the Special Economic Measures (People’s Republic of China) Regulations under paragraph 4(1)(a)footnote a and subsections 4(1.1)footnote b, (2)footnote c and (3) of the Special Economic Measures Act footnote d.

Regulations Amending the Special Economic Measures (People’s Republic of China) Regulations

Amendment

1 Part 1 of the schedule to the Regulations Amending the Special Economic Measures (People’s Republic of China) Regulations footnote 1 is amended by adding the following in numerical order:

Application Before Publication

2 For the purpose of paragraph 11(2)(a) of the Statutory Instruments Act, these Regulations apply according to their terms before they are published in the Canada Gazette.

Coming into Force

3 These Regulations come into force on the day on which they are registered.

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)

Issues

Human rights violations committed in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are well documented and continue to raise significant concerns. These violations lie within the greater frame of the PRC Government-led systematic campaign of repression against Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), Tibetans in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), and against Falun Gong Practitioners.

There is credible evidence that state-led violations of international human rights are ongoing in the PRC. The Chinese government has rejected any accountability for wrongdoing.

Background

Canada has repeatedly raised the issue of human rights in the PRC, including in the XUAR and in the TAR, with Chinese government officials both publicly and privately. Extreme internet and media censorship in the PRC and restricted access to the region have limited the ability of the international community to ascertain the exact scope and details of the human rights situation in Xinjiang and Tibet. Despite this, damning credible evidence has made its way into the public domain.

Human rights violations in Xinjiang

In the XUAR, credible reports have continued to emerge since 2017 of mass arbitrary detentions of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities based on their religion and ethnicity. While in detention, Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities face torture or other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment, obligatory patriotic and cultural education, forced labour, and mass forced separation of children from their parents. There are also credible reports of systematic rape as well as sexual and gender-based violence. Witnesses and victims have reported medical procedures performed without the patient’s consent, including forced sterilization, abortions, contraceptive device insertion, and organ removal.

Experts estimate the number of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities detained in the XUAR to have reached between 1 and 1.8 million.

PRC repression in Xinjiang has entered a new phase. Various recent reports note that while those detention camps appear to have now largely been dissolved and repurposed, the capacity for high-security detention and higher security prisons in the XUAR has increased significantly. Satellite images indicate that some sites previously identified as internment facilities remain intact. Furthermore, many Uyghurs abroad remain unable to contact their families or receive any news of their whereabouts or wellbeing. According to Human Rights Watch, Uyghurs continue to be silenced and persecuted for being Uyghurs.

In August 2022, the United Nations (UN) Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released its assessment of the human rights situation in Xinjiang, following the High Commissioner’s May 2022 visit. It found that Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities faced arbitrary and discriminatory detention in special facilities and prisons. The overall OHCHR assessment found that these PRC policies “may constitute international crimes, including crimes against humanity.” OHCHR asserted that even if the PRC’s mass arbitrary detention program has been reduced in scope or wound up, the laws and policies that underpin it remain in place, leading to increasing imprisonment. In an August 2024 update, OHCHR reconfirmed their call to PRC authorities to undertake a full review from a human rights perspective of the legal framework governing national security and counterterrorism, and for a full investigation into alleged human rights violations. The Government of Canada and many like-minded countries also released statements marking the 2nd anniversary of the OHCHR report and calling on the Chinese government to take meaningful steps to address the report’s concerns and implement its recommendations. The Chinese government has dismissed the OHCHR’s assessment and calls to action, and rejects any accountability for wrongdoing.

Human rights violations in Tibet

In the TAR, Tibetans face systematic violations of their rights to freedom of expression, freedom of religion or belief, and their linguistic and cultural rights. Many of the tools and methods for repression currently being applied in the XUAR originated in TAR. Decades of Chinese repression have eroded not only Tibetan Buddhism, but Tibetan language and identity as well. Since the PRC established the TAR in 1951, Tibetans have been the target of human rights violations, including forced labour and arbitrary detention, as well as severe restrictions on their rights to freedom of expression, movement, and association.

Religious practice is also severely restricted in Tibet, violating freedom of religion or belief, as well as the rights to freedom of opinion and expression. The PRC views Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan reverence for the Dalai Lama as a direct threat to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule. Tibetan Buddhist clergy and believers are forced to denounce the Dalai Lama, pledge their loyalty to the CCP and socialism above their religious beliefs, and attend political education sessions. People who possess Dalai Lama-related materials, especially in the TAR, are routinely detained and at times, criminally prosecuted. Political and ideological indoctrination within monasteries and nunneries has intensified since 2022. The shutdown of monastic schools and forced enrolment of child monks in state-run boarding schools has increased throughout 2024.

In February 2023, UN Special Rapporteurs on minority issues, on the right to education, and in the field of cultural rights expressed concern about the enrolment of nearly one million Tibetan children in state-run boarding schools, where they were receiving a politicized, Mandarin-based education intended to assimilate Tibetans culturally, religiously and linguistically into the majority Han Chinese culture.

Persecution of Falun Gong practitioners

Chinese authorities initiated a campaign in 1999 to eliminate the spiritual practice of Falun Gong in the PRC. This was a multifaceted propaganda campaign, a program of enforced ideological conversion and re-education, and included a variety of extralegal coercive measures such as arbitrary arrests, forced labour and physical torture, sometimes resulting in death. Many of the repression tools employed against Falun Gong practitioners in the late 1990s and early-mid 2000s were adapted for use against ethnic and religious minorities in the TAR and XUAR. The persecution of Falun Gong continues to this day. In June 2021, UN human rights experts expressed alarm about reports of alleged organ harvesting targeting minorities in the PRC, including Falun Gong practitioners. In October 2023, the Falun Dafa Association released a report detailing transnational repression by the PRC actions against Falun Gong practitioners in Canada.

Canadian and international responses

The Government of Canada has repeatedly raised its grave concerns along with like-minded partners and G7 members, and has made public statements in multilateral fora, including the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Human Rights Council. Canada also made recommendations to the PRC during the Universal Periodic Review in January 2024. As a latest example, the 2024 G7 Leaders’ Communiqué emphasized the G7’s concerns with the human rights situation in the PRC. A growing number of UN human rights experts and mechanisms have called on the PRC to respond meaningfully to a range of credible allegations.

On March 21, 2021, Canada enacted the Special Economic Measures (People’s Republic of China) Regulations (the Regulations) under the Special Economic Measures Act (SEMA) in response to the gross and systematic human rights violations in the PRC.

Objective


Description

The amendments add eight individuals to the Regulations for engaging in human rights violations occurring in the XUAR, the TAR, and against religious and ethnic minorities. These individuals are current or former PRC senior officials involved in and responsible for these human rights violations.

Any person in Canada or Canadian outside Canada is thereby prohibited from dealing in the property of, entering into transactions with, providing services to, transferring property to, or otherwise making goods available to listed persons. These measures will also render listed individuals inadmissible to Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Under the Regulations, listed persons may apply to the Minister of Foreign Affairs to have their name removed from the schedule of designated persons. The Minister must determine whether there are reasonable grounds to make a recommendation to the Governor in Council for removal.

Regulatory development

Consultation

Global Affairs Canada regularly engages with relevant stakeholders, including civil society organizations, cultural communities and other like-minded governments, regarding Canada’s approach to sanctions implementation. The Government of Canada has heard concerns from civil society with regard to ongoing human rights violations being perpetrated in the PRC. The proposed sanctions align with the concerns raised by those individuals and organizations.

With respect to this specific proposal, public consultation would not have been appropriate, as publicizing the names of the listed persons targeted by sanctions would have likely resulted in asset flight prior to the coming into force of the Regulations.

Modern treaty obligations and Indigenous engagement and consultation

An initial assessment of the geographical scope of the initiative was conducted and did not identify any modern treaty obligations, as the Regulations do not take effect in a modern treaty area.

Instrument choice

Regulations are the sole method to enact sanctions in Canada. No other instrument could be considered.

Regulatory analysis

Benefits and costs

The application of sanctions will serve to put pressure on the Government of the PRC to change its behaviour and respect human rights. The sanctions communicate a clear message to the PRC that Canada will not accept that ongoing gross and systematic human rights violations that take place at the hands of the State with impunity. As efforts to date have not convinced the Government of the PRC to accept accountability for human rights violations, sanctions send an important message from Canada and encourage a shift in policy.

The amendments focus on individuals who are current or former PRC Government officials who contribute to human rights violations in the XUAR, TAR and against ethnic and religious minorities, rather than on the PRC as a whole. Sanctions targeting specific persons have less impact on Canadian businesses than traditional broad-based economic sanctions and have limited impact on the citizens of the country of the listed individuals and entities. Based on an initial assessment of available open-source information, it is believed that the individuals listed have no linkages with Canada and therefore do not have significant business dealings that are relevant to the Canadian economy.

The incremental cost to the Government of Canada to administer and enforce these additional prohibitions is minimal.

Canadian banks and financial institutions are required to comply with the sanctions. They will do so by adding the new prohibitions to their existing monitoring systems, which may result in a minor compliance cost.

Small business lens

Analysis under the small business lens concludes that the amendments do not impose any new compliance or administrative burden on small businesses in Canada. The amendments prohibit Canadian businesses from dealing with, providing services to, or otherwise making goods available to listed persons, but do not create obligations related to them. Additionally, Canadian businesses may seek permits under the Regulations which are granted on an exceptional basis allowing policy space for exemptions. However, Global Affairs Canada does not anticipate any applications resulting from listing these individuals. Canadian small businesses are also subject to the duty to disclose under the Regulations, which would represent a direct compliance requirement. However, as the newly listed individuals have no known legitimate linkages with Canada, Global Affairs Canada does not anticipate any disclosures resulting from the amendments.

One-for-one rule

The one-for-one rule does not apply, as there is no incremental change in administrative burden on business. The permitting process for businesses meets the definition of “administrative burden” in the Red Tape Reduction Act; however, while permits may be granted under the Regulations, on an exceptional basis, given these individuals have no known business ties to the Canadian economy, Global Affairs Canada does not anticipate any permit applications with respect to the amendments.

Regulatory cooperation and alignment

While the amendments are not related to a work plan or commitment under a formal regulatory cooperation forum, they align with actions taken by like-minded partners.

Effects on the environment

The amendments are unlikely to result in important environmental effects. In accordance with the Cabinet Directive on Strategic Environmental and Economic Assessment (SEEA), a preliminary scan concluded that an SEEA is not required.

Gender-based analysis plus

The subject of economic sanctions has previously been assessed for effects on gender and diversity. Although intended to facilitate a positive change in behaviour through economic pressure on individuals and entities in foreign states, sanctions under the SEMA can nevertheless have an unintended impact on certain groups and individuals in vulnerable situations. The amendments focus on individuals who are current or former PRC Government officials who contribute to human rights violations in the XUAR, TAR and against ethnic and religious minorities, rather than on the PRC as a whole. This results in minimizing collateral effects to those dependent on those individuals.

Women are a particular target of the PRC Government-led systematic campaign of repression against Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. There were credible testimonials of mass sterilization, sexual violence, and rape in detention camps. Women in Tibet also face unique challenges, including barriers in access to justice, forced labour and marriages, sexual violence and rape, and the general undermining of the linguistic and cultural identity of Tibetan women. Falun Gong women who are imprisoned for their religious beliefs face significant risk of sexual violence and rape while detained.

Implementation, compliance and enforcement, and service standards

The amendments come into force on the day they are registered.

Consequential to being listed in the Regulations, and pursuant to the application of paragraph 35.1(b) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the listed individuals would be inadmissible to Canada.

The names of the listed individuals will be available online for financial institutions to review and will be added to the Consolidated Canadian Autonomous Sanctions List. This will help to facilitate compliance with the Regulations.

The Trade Commissioner Service at Global Affairs Canada, abroad and in Canada, continues to assist clients in understanding Canadian sanctions regulations, and notably the impact of the regulations on any activities in which Canadians may be engaged. Global Affairs Canada is also increasing outreach efforts across Canada — including to engage with businesses, universities, and provincial/territorial governments — to enhance national awareness of and compliance with Canadian sanctions.

Under SEMA, both Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canada Border Services Agency officers have the power to enforce sanctions violations through their authorities as defined under the Customs Act, the Excise Act or the Excise Act, 2001, and sections 487 to 490, 491.1 and 491.2 of the Criminal Code.

In accordance with section 8 of the SEMA, every person who knowingly contravenes or fails to comply with the Regulations is liable, upon summary conviction, to a fine of not more than $25,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than one year, or to both: or, upon conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years.

Contact

Global Affairs Canada
Sanctions Bureau
125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0G2
Telephone (toll-free): 1‑833‑352‑0769
Telephone (local): 343‑203‑3975
Fax: 613‑995‑9085
Email: sanctions@international.gc.ca