Canadian International Trade Tribunal Rules (SOR/91-499)

Statement Under Oath

• 12.01 (1) If a statement made under oath or affirmation is filed by electronic transmission, it must include a handwritten signature and the following statement: “The document that is being submitted by electronic transmission to the Tribunal is an electronic version of a paper document that has been signed by the affiant. The signed document in paper copy is available and will be produced if requested by the Tribunal.”

• (2) The party filing the statement must keep the signed document in paper copy until one year after all time limits for appeals expire.

• (3) On the Tribunal’s request, the party filing the statement must provide the signed document in paper copy for review.

Official and Other Languages

• 12.1 (1) Subject to subrule (2), all documents filed with the Tribunal must be in English or French.

• (2) A person may file an original document in a language other than English or French if, at the same time, the person also files a translation of it in English or French and an affidavit attesting to the accuracy of the translation. If the document is required to be served, the translation and affidavit must be served at the same time.

Service of Documents

• 13 (1) Subject to rule 17 and in addition to the provisions of the Excise Tax Act in respect of appeals under Part VII of that Act, the following rules apply to the service of documents:

  • (a) if a document is required to be served personally, the service shall be made

    • (i) on an individual, by leaving a copy of it with the individual,

    • (i.1) on a general partnership, by leaving a copy of it with one of the partners,

    • (ii) on a corporation, by leaving a copy of it with an officer, director or agent of the corporation, or with a person at any place of business of the corporation who appears to manage or be in control of the place of business, and

    • (iii) in any other case, in any manner that the Tribunal determines is just and equitable in the circumstances; and

  • (b) if a document is not required to be served personally, the service shall be made at the address for service of the party.

• (2) [Repealed, SOR/2000-139, s. 6]

• (3) The address for service of a party shall be

  • (a) where there is a counsel of record for a party, the business address of the counsel as shown on the most recent document filed by the counsel that shows the counsel’s address; and

  • (b) where there is no counsel of record

    • (i) in the case of the Minister of National Revenue or the President, the Office of the Deputy Attorney General of Canada in Ottawa, or

    • (ii) in the case of any other party, the address of the party as shown on the most recent document filed by the party that shows the party’s address.

• (4) The service of a document at an address for service must be made by sending it to the address for service by hand, mail, registered mail, courier or electronic transmission.

• (5) A document that is served by fax must be accompanied by a cover page setting out

  • (a) the sender’s name, postal and email addresses and telephone and fax numbers;

  • (b) the name of the person to be served;

  • (c) the total number of pages transmitted, including the cover page;

  • (d) the title or description of the document transmitted; and

  • (e) the name, telephone number and email address of a person to contact if transmission problems occur.

• (5.1) A document that is served by email must be accompanied by an electronic message setting out

  • (a) the sender’s name, telephone number, postal and email addresses;

  • (b) the name of the person to be served;

  • (c) the title or description of the document transmitted; and

  • (d) the name, telephone number and email address of a person to contact if transmission problems occur.

• (6) In the absence of proof to the contrary, the date of service of a document is

  • (a) if the document is served personally, the date of delivery;

  • (b) if the document is served by mail or registered mail, the date that is five days after the earliest postal date appearing on the envelope containing the document;

  • (c) if the document is served by electronic transmission, the date of the transmission; and

  • (d) if the document is served by courier, the date of receipt indicated on the courier receipt.

• (7) If a document is required under these Rules to be served by a party or by direction of the Tribunal, the Tribunal may direct that a proof of service be filed with the Tribunal.

• (8) A proof of service of a document shall be made by showing

  • (a) an acknowledgement of service signed by or on behalf of the person served; or

  • (b) an affidavit of service stating the name of the person who served the document and the date, place and manner of service.

Means of Transmission

13.1 Unless otherwise provided by these Rules or any other law, any sending, transmitting, notifying, servicing or filing may be done by hand, mail, registered mail, courier or electronic transmission.

Certified Copy

13.2 If a document is filed by electronic transmission and a certified copy of the document is requested from the Tribunal, the Tribunal may provide an electronic copy, stamped “certified ”, of the document.

Treatment of Certain Confidential Information

14 Where information designated as confidential pursuant to paragraph 85(1)(a) of the Special Import Measures Act is filed with the Tribunal, the Tribunal shall treat that information as confidential unless the person who provided it agrees in writing that it need not be treated as confidential by the Tribunal.

Submission of Confidential Information

• 15 (1) A document that contains information designated as confidential under section 46 of the Act must be marked “CONFIDENTIAL” in capital letters on each page and the confidential information must be placed between square brackets and highlighted.

• (2) Confidential information must be redacted in the non-confidential edited version of the document marked “CONFIDENTIAL” in capital letters. The version that contains the confidential information and the non-confidential edited version must be in the same format, including page and paragraph numbering and lines per page.

• (3) Except for the purpose of Parts II and X, the filing of the documents referred to in this rule is completed when all of them have been filed and, if they are filed on different dates, the date of filing is the date on which the most recent document is filed.

Disclosure of Information to Counsel or to Expert

• 16 (1) A counsel for a party who wishes to have access to confidential information under subsection 45(3) of the Act must provide the Tribunal with a declaration and undertaking on the relevant Tribunal form in respect of the use, disclosure, reproduction, protection and storage of the information in the record of a proceeding, as well as in respect of that counsel’s disposal of the information at the close of the proceeding or in the event of a change of counsel.

• (2) [Repealed, SOR/2018-87, s. 9]

• (3) An expert who wishes to have access to confidential information under subsection 45(3) or (3.1) of the Act must provide the Tribunal with a declaration and undertaking on the relevant Tribunal form in respect of the use, disclosure, reproduction, protection and storage of the confidential information in the record of a proceeding, as well as in respect of that expert’s disposal of the confidential information at the close of the proceeding or in the event of a change of expert.

• (4) Any party or interested person may request, by way of motion in accordance with rule 24, that the Tribunal not disclose some or all of the confidential information to a counsel or expert.

• (5) The Tribunal must notify the counsel or the expert, as the case may be, of its decision as to whether to disclose the confidential information and on what terms and conditions that disclosure would be made.

Filing and Communication of Confidential Information

• 17 (1) Subject to any other provisions of these Rules, confidential information shall be filed with the Tribunal and may be served only by the Tribunal.

• (2) Despite subrule (1), a counsel for a party to a proceeding who has filed confidential information with the Tribunal may, in accordance with written directions issued by the Tribunal, serve that information on

  • (a) a counsel who is acting on behalf of another party in the same proceeding, who has filed a declaration and undertaking under rule 16 and who has been granted access to that information; or

  • (b) an expert who is acting under the control or direction of a counsel acting on behalf of another party in the same proceeding, who has filed a declaration and undertaking under rule 16 and who has been granted access to that information.

Pre-hearing Conference

• 18 (1) At the time of giving notice of a hearing to be held in any proceeding or at any time after the giving of that notice, the Tribunal may direct that all parties to the proceeding or their counsel appear before the Tribunal or before a member, at a day, time and place fixed by the Tribunal, for a pre-hearing conference for the purpose of making representations, settling questions of procedure or merit before the hearing or receiving guidance from the Tribunal with respect to any of the following matters:

  • (a) the clarification and simplification of issues;

  • (b) the procedure to be followed at the hearing;

  • (c) the mutual exchange between parties to the proceeding of written submissions, exhibits and other material presented or to be presented to the Tribunal;

  • (d) the question of whether any written submission, other document or testimony presented or proposed to be presented to the Tribunal contains confidential information;

  • (d.1) the question of whether a person who is to appear on behalf of a party is acknowledged by the parties to be an expert;

  • (e) the question of the confidential information, if any, to which a person who is to appear on behalf of a party in the capacity of an expert on any matter should be given access; and

  • (f) any other matter that is relevant to the proceeding.

• (2) Counsel for any party to a proceeding may, if notice of a hearing has been given in the proceeding, make a written request to the Tribunal to direct that a pre-hearing conference be held to consider any matter referred in subrule (1).

• (3) On receipt of a request referred to in subrule (2), the Tribunal may direct that a pre-hearing conference be held if it determines that a pre-hearing conference would assist in the orderly conduct of the hearing or in settling questions of merit.

• (4) The Tribunal may conduct the pre-hearing conference in any manner that gives the parties or their counsel a fair opportunity to participate.

• (5) [Repealed, SOR/2000-139, s. 9]

Availability of Information

• 19 (1) The Tribunal shall, prior to or at the commencement of a hearing in a proceeding, make available to each party or the party’s counsel all of the information that has been provided to the Tribunal for the purposes of the proceeding and that has not been designated as confidential.

• (2) The Tribunal must, prior to or at the commencement of a hearing in a proceeding, make all confidential information that has been provided to the Tribunal or issued by it for the purposes of the proceeding available to each counsel and each expert who

  • (a) has filed a declaration and undertaking under rule 16; and

  • (b) has been granted access to the information.

• (3) The Tribunal may make the information referred to in subrule (1) or (2) available to a party or the party’s counsel by transmitting the documents by hand, mail, courier or electronic transmission.

Subpoenas

• 20 (1) The Tribunal may, on its own initiative or at the request of any party, summon before it by subpoena any person to attend a hearing and require that person to give evidence on oath or affirmation and to produce documents or other things.

• (2) The request must set out the name, postal address and telephone number and, if applicable email address of the party making the request and of the person to be subpoenaed.

• (3) A subpoena must be served personally. At the time of service, an amount that is not less than the amount to which the person would have been entitled as fees and allowances, if summoned to attend before the Federal Court, must be paid or tendered to them.

• (4) If a subpoena is served on a person, the original copy of the subpoena must be filed with the Tribunal without delay, together with proof of service on the person.