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Telecom Public Notice CRTC 98-11
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Ottawa, 15 May 1998 |
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NEW PROCEDURE FOR TELECOM COSTS AWARDS
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Reference No.: 8050-S56/98 |
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Introduction |
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The Commission hereby announces that it is prepared, in
appropriate circumstances, to dispense with the taxation of costs and to
fix in individual Costs Orders the amount of costs to be paid. |
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Background |
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Pursuant to subsection 56(1) of the Telecommunications
Act (the Act), the Commission has the power to award costs of and
incidental to proceedings before it. When costs are awarded, the Commission
may either fix the amount of the costs or direct that the amount be taxed. |
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Traditionally, the Commission has not fixed
the amount of the costs concurrently with the awarding of costs. Rather, in
its Costs Orders, the Commission has ordered that the amount of the costs
be determined through a follow-up taxation process before one of the
members of the Commission's Legal Directorate. |
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As part of the Legal Directorate's call for
comments with respect to the review of it's Guidelines for the Taxation
of Costs and other taxation matters, parties made comments pertaining
to the Commission's process. In particular, BCOAPO et al. (on behalf of the
B.C. Old Age Pensioners' Organization, the Consumers' Association of Canada
(B.C. Branch), the Council of Senior Citizens' Organizations of B.C., the
federated anti-poverty groups of B.C., the Senior Citizens' Association of
B.C., the West End Seniors' Network, End Legislated Poverty, the B.C.
Coalition for Information Access and the Tenants' Rights Action Coalition)
submitted that in view of the increasing number of relatively small paper
processes, there should be a more simplified approach to costs awards for
those proceedings. In particular, BCOAPO et al. stated that there have been
instances where they did not request costs because compliance with the
existing costs award and taxation processes was too burdensome for the
potential amount involved. BCOAPO et al. proposed a process by which the
Commission could, in certain circumstances, order costs to be paid directly
and thus dispense with the taxation process. |
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Conclusion |
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In light of these comments and the express
provisions of subsection 56(1) of the Act, the Commission has concluded
that there would be merit in adopting a more streamlined approach for costs
awards in appropriate circumstances. Accordingly, the Commission hereby
announces that it would be prepared in principle to fix the costs to be
paid, as part of the costs award process, thus dispensing with a follow-up
taxation process. |
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In the Commission's view, the determination of
whether it is appropriate to dispense with taxation, and therefore proceed
immediately to fixing the amount of costs, will largely depend on the
specific circumstances of a given costs application. Those circumstances
would include the complexity of the issues raised in the proceeding, the
length and the nature of the proceeding and the amount of costs claimed.
However, the relevant circumstances would not be limited to those herein
identified. Moreover, prior to making a determination to dispense with the
taxation process with respect to any given costs application, the
Commission will also consider the position of potential costs respondents
on this issue. |
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Procedure |
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Parties seeking costs and who wish to benefit
from this streamlined approach must continue to file costs applications in
the manner provided for in the CRTC Telecommunications Rules of
Procedures (the Rules). Parties are reminded that they must continue to
address the three criteria for awards of costs identified at subsection
44(1) of the Rules and must clearly identify the proposed costs
respondents, serving a copy of the application on those respondents. In
addition, applicants may request that the Commission dispense with the
taxation process and fix the amount of the costs to be paid in its Costs
Order. The Commission expects that applicants provide full rationale which
would justify, in the circumstances of the given costs application, why the
Commission ought immediately to proceed to fixing the costs, and dispense
with taxation. |
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Applicants seeking to benefit from this proposed
streamlined approach are also required to file with their costs application
a summary of the fees and disbursements being claimed. To this end,
applicants are expected to use "Form V - Summary of Fees and
Disbursements" of the Commission's Legal Directorate's Revised Guidelines
for the Taxation of Costs, dated 15 May 1998. |
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This document is available in alternative format upon
request. |
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Laura M. Talbot-Allan
Secretary General |