This publication was featured in Transport Magazine.
As a heavy vehicle owner and operator (hereinafter: "PEVL"), you are certainly aware of your obligation to register with the Quebec Transportation Commission's ("Commission") Heavy Vehicle Owners and Operators Registry and that this registration must be renewed annually.
In the event of non-compliance, the consequences are significant, including automatic loss of the right to operate and use heavy vehicles and the risk of receiving a violation notice resulting in 6 points on the company's record.
A similar obligation applies to all transportation service intermediaries ("intermediaries"). But are you familiar with the consequences of non-compliance?
Definition
According to section 15 of the Act respecting owners, operators, and drivers of heavy vehicles ("LPECVL"), an intermediary is defined as "any person who, for remuneration, directly or indirectly acts as an intermediary in a transaction between third parties for the purpose of transporting a person or goods by heavy vehicle."
Therefore, the intermediary is not party to the contract of carriage between the shipper and the carrier. Rather, the intermediary is bound by a service contract with the carrier or the shipper and acts on behalf of one or the other.
Obligation to register
The Commission is required to compile and maintain a list of intermediaries doing business in Quebec, make this list available to the public, and create a file on each intermediary that applies for registration.
Only intermediaries registered on this list are authorized to provide such services. Intermediaries must register or renew their registration annually. Failure to do so will result in any contract entered by the intermediary becoming null and void, as provided for in the second paragraph of Article 16 of the LPECVL.
In this regard, the Superior Court of Quebec examined the effects of this provision in a decision rendered in May 2023. The Court ruled that even in the presence of a service contract with no effect entered by an unregistered intermediary, the shipper is not exempt from its obligation to pay for the carrier's transportation services. However, the unregistered intermediary will not be entitled to the portion of the profits it would have earned under its service contract with the shipper.
In short, registration with the Commission is an essential step to act as a transportation services intermediary and thus earn one's fees.
Separate civil liability
An intermediary organizes the transport of goods without being a carrier themselves. Their role is to connect a shipper or consignee with a carrier without carrying out the transport. This distinction is crucial: agreeing to organize transport and agreeing to transport are two different legal realities.
The carrier has an obligation of result towards its customers, namely, to deliver the goods it has undertaken to transport in the same quantity as received and in the same condition as when they were taken over.
The intermediary, for its part, is bound by an obligation of means. The latter is not responsible for the specific performance of the contract or the transport operation. In other words, its obligation is limited to finding a reliable and competent carrier, at the request of the shipper or the consignee.
The distinction between the responsibilities of the intermediary and those of the carrier therefore deserves special attention. Although a company may be registered with the CTQ as both a carrier and an intermediary, these two roles cannot be used jointly in the performance of a single contract.
It is therefore essential for companies that act as carriers and intermediaries to clearly separate their activities, as carriers have greater civil liability regarding the execution of transport operations than intermediaries.
To avoid any legal confusion or increased liability, we recommend that companies that perform both carrier and intermediary roles clearly separate their operations into distinct entities and ensure that their staff assigned to each entity are physically separated.
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Legal Reference:
¹ 9362-9178 Québec Inc. c. 9412-6430 Québec Inc., 2025 QCCS 1787
