Terms of Reference for the Competition Tribunal Bar Liaison Committee

  1. The Competition Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) established the Tribunal/Bar Liaison Committee (the “Committee”) to provide a forum to discuss procedural and other related matters that will improve the Tribunal’s processes and be of mutual interest to the Tribunal and to representatives of the bar. The Committee will not discuss any substantive issues, as they may become the subject of litigation before the Tribunal.

  2. The Committee will be chaired by the Chairperson of the Tribunal. Secretarial support will be provided by the Registrar or his/her delegate.

  3. The Committee will be comprised of: (i) the Tribunal’s judicial members; (ii) representatives from the Tribunal’s Secretariat; (iii) representatives designated by the National Competition Law Section (“NCLS”) of the Canadian Bar Association (“CBA”); and (iv) representatives from the Competition Bureau/Competition Bureau Legal Services. The Chairperson retains the authority to invite additional representatives to attend Committee meetings.

  4. The NCLS and the Competition Bureau shall indicate in writing to the Tribunal, in October of each year, who will be their respective representatives for the ensuing 12- month period.

  5. The Committee will normally meet twice a year and will attempt to coordinate the scheduling of its meetings with the CBA’s Spring and Fall Competition Law Conferences.

  6. The Chairperson will establish the agenda for each meeting and will circulate it to all members of the Committee prior to the meeting. Other Committee members may suggest additional items to be added to the agenda.

  7. The Tribunal will prepare minutes for each meeting of the Committee and will subsequently circulate the draft minutes for comments to all attendees. Once they are finalized, the minutes of the Committee meetings will be sent to all attendees and will be posted on the Tribunal’s website. Unless a specific request for confidentiality is made by a participant to the Committee meetings, the minutes of the Committee meetings will be public.