Document Filing Guidelines

In accordance with rule 12 of the Competition Tribunal Rules (the Rules), parties shall file their documents by electronic transmission. Documents filed electronically constitute the original record. If an alternate means of filing is justified in the circumstances, parties must make a request in writing to the presiding member who will decide whether to allow filing by paper or facsimile.

The Competition Tribunal’s E-filing is the preferred method of electronic transmission. Confidential information is fully secured using industry-standard security techniques such as the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol and encryption. The Tribunal also accepts filing by email to filing.depot@ct-tc.gc.ca. Please note that the maximum file size for email filing is 35 MB.

Document naming convention

Use the following naming convention for documents filed electronically:

  • Tribunal Case No. – Document Name –Designation

Tribunal Case No.: Insert your case number, which is in the format CT-20XX-XXX. If you are filing an originating document and you do not have a case number, use CT-0000-000.

Subject: Nature of the document, e.g. “Notice of Application”, “Response to notice of application”, “Witness Statement of A. Boucher”

Designation: If the document is public, please add “PUBLIC”. If the document contains confidential information, please add “CONFIDENTIAL”.

IMPORTANT: Any document not clearly labelled as confidential will be considered public by default.

Please note that the designation by a party of any information as confidential must be supported by a confidentiality order issued by the Tribunal or the approval of a judicial member of the Tribunal in advance of filing.

Examples:

  • CT-2024-017 - Response to notice of application - PUBLIC
  • CT-2024-018 - Witness statement of A. Boucher - CONFIDENTIAL

Document formats

Where possible, documents should be filed in Portable Document Format (PDF). These documents should be searchable. If the text of the document is not searchable, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) must be completed before the document is submitted to the Tribunal.

Other acceptable file formats are as follows: .xls, .xlsx, .wma, .dcr, .mp3, .zip, .txt, .jpg, .bmp, .png, .wmv, .mp4, .m4a

Portable document format conversion

Numerous programs exist for PDF conversion (such as Adobe), including some that are free. Many word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation programs have built-in options that allow you to create, download, export, and save the document as a PDF file. Once the document has been converted, ensure that the text is searchable and, if it is not, use OCR prior to filing with the Tribunal.

Font

Some special characters used in certain word processing applications may not convert easily to PDF. You’re responsible for the accuracy of the documents submitted. Check special characters on conversion to ensure they weren’t changed.

Embedded files

Do not attach embedded files to your PDF document, including:

  • comments (note tool, pencil tool, highlights tool, digital signature tool, embedded files, sounds or other multimedia);
  • forms actions;
  • JavaScript actions;
  • external cross references;
  • web links; and
  • image alternates.

Document properties

Do not incorporate any properties in your PDF documents that might restrict or prevent us from viewing, printing, or searching them.

Ensure that the security setting of PDF documents is “none” and the documents aren’t password protected.

Page size

  • Each page of an electronically filed document should be in letter-sized format (i.e. 8.5” by 11” when printed)

Confidentiality

Documents marked as confidential will not be accepted for filing unless the Competition Tribunal has issued a confidentiality order in the matter or with the approval of a judicial member of the Tribunal in advance of filing.

Both a public and a confidential version of the document must be filed simultaneously and clearly designated as such.

For more information regarding the formatting of public and confidential documents, please see the Practice Direction Regarding the Filing of Confidential and Public Documents with the Tribunal.

Scanned documents

Although the Tribunal’s preference is that PDF documents filed electronically be converted directly from the original source document, it is not always practical or feasible. If you must scan a document for filing, follow these guidelines:

  • Resolution – Minimum 300 dots per inch.
  • Size – 1:1 resolution (scan so that the document is the same size as the original) or adjust paper size to the right format.
  • Optical character recognition – Make sure to enable OCR to create a searchable PDF document (consult your technical support staff or software provider if needed).
  • Compression – Set PDF compression to “standard”.
  • Images/photos – Set image quality to “standard”.
  • Quality assurance – Ensure that:
    • all pages and details (e.g. decimal points) were captured;
    • the document is accurate and doesn’t include scanner-generated marks;
    • the document is fully searchable.

File size limitation and electronic submission

The limit for PDF documents submitted via E-Filing is 900 MB per document. It is recommended to limit documents to no more than 200 MB. If the document you want to submit is larger than 900 MB, please contract the Registry of the Competition Tribunal at tribunal@ct-tc.gc.ca.

The limit for PDF documents submitted via email to filing-depot@ct-tc.gc.ca is 35 MB.