Bill 83, Skin Cancer Prevention Act, 2008

Bill 83 2008

An Act to help prevent skin cancer

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

Supplying tanning services prohibited

   1.  (1)  No person shall sell or supply tanning services to a person who is less than 19 years old.

Supplying ultra-violet light treatments prohibited

   (2)  No person shall sell or supply ultra-violet light treatment services to a person who is less than 19 years old.

Exception

   (3)  Subsection (2) does not prevent a member of a regulated health profession who is authorized to do so to provide ultra-violet light treatments to a person who is less than 19 years old if a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario or the Ontario College of Nurses has prescribed the treatments because the person receiving them is suffering from a condition prescribed by the regulations. 

Apparent age

   (4)  No person shall sell or supply tanning services or ultra-violet light treatment services to a person who appears to be less than 25 years old unless he or she has required the person to provide identification and is satisfied that the person is at least 19 years old. 

Defence

   (5)  It is a defence to a charge under subsection (1), (2) or (4) that the defendant believed the person receiving the treatments to be at least 19 years old because the person produced a prescribed form of identification showing his or her age and there was no apparent reason to doubt the authenticity of the document or that it was issued to the person producing it. 

Vicarious liability

   (6)  The owner of a business where tanning services or ultra-violet light treatment services are sold or supplied shall be deemed to be liable for any contravention of subsection (1), (2) or (4) on the premises where the contravention took place, unless the owner exercised due diligence to prevent such a contravention. 

Improper documentation

   (7)  No person shall present as evidence of his or her age identification that was not lawfully issued to him or her. 

Regulations

   (8)  The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations prescribing conditions for the purposes of subsection (3) and forms of identification for the purposes of subsection (5).  

Offence

   2.  A person who contravenes subsection 1 (1), (2) or (4) is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable, for each day or part of a day on which the offence occurs or continues, to a fine of not more than $2,000.   

Commencement

   3.  This Act comes into force on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor.

Short title

   4.  The short title of this Act is the Skin Cancer Prevention Act, 2008.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Bill provides for a prohibition on selling or supplying tanning services or ultra-violet light treatment services to persons under the age of 19. The prohibition does not apply to ultra-violet light treatments prescribed by authorized medical professionals for conditions prescribed by the regulations.