Ebay Canada Limited v. Minister Of National Revenue, 2008 FCA 348 [PDF]

The Federal Court of Appeal upheld a Federal Court decision (2008 FC 180) which affirmed an ex parte order under section 231.2 of the Income Tax Act, authorizing the Minister of National Revenue to require Ebay Canada Limited to produce information related to unnamed persons identified as “PowerSellers” in Canada.

Section 231.2(1) empowers the Minister to require any “information” or “document.” However when the request relates to “unnamed persons”, section 231.2(1) requires the authorization of a judge by ex parte application, which itself if subject to judicial review under section 231.2(5).

The Court of Appeal found the electronic information relating to Canadian Ebay users was not “foreign-based information” under section 231.6, which does not authorize a requirement to produce foreign-based information relating to unnamed persons, in that “it was also located in Canada because of its ready accessibility to and use by [eBay].”