OBCCTC Decision #21/2016:
The administrative penalties made available under Section 34 of the Act and Section 28 of the Regulation are designed to encourage compliance with the Act and Regulation. Penalties are intended to have a general and specific deterrence purpose – that is, to protect drivers and to discourage non-compliance with the legislation.
To ensure that licensees receive the appropriate deterrent message, the amount of any financial penalty must be sufficiently large to meet the objective of deterring non-compliance. The large financial penalties available under the Act and Regulation demonstrate an intention to ensure that administrative fines are not seen by licensees as merely another cost of doing business or part of the licensing costs.
In keeping with the above described purpose of the legislation, the factors which will be considered when assessing the appropriate administrative penalty include the following:
- The seriousness of the respondent’s conduct;
- The harm suffered by drivers as a result of the respondent’s conduct;
- The damage done to the integrity of Container Trucking Industry;
- The extent to which the Licensee was enriched;
- Factors that mitigate the respondent’s conduct;
- The respondent’s past conduct;
- The need to demonstrate the consequences of inappropriate conduct to those who enjoy the benefits of having a Container Trucking Services Licence;
- The need to deter those Licensees from engaging in inappropriate conduct, and
- Orders made by the Commission in similar circumstances in the past.
This list is not intended to be exhaustive.