ARCHIVED - Compliance and Enforcement and Telecom Procedural Letter Addressed to the Intervenors
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Ottawa, 31 January 2018
File Number: 1011-NOC2017-0405
Intervenors
NoC 2017-405
Re: Compliance and Enforcement and Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2017-405 – Implementation of universal blocking of calls with blatantly illegitimate caller identification
On 16 November 2017, the Commission issued Compliance and Enforcement and Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2017-405 seeking comments on its proposal to mandate network blocking for certain types of calls with blatantly illegitimate caller identification.
The Commission received letters from Bell Canada dated 8 January 2018 requesting directions that would affect the process established in NoC CRTC 2017-405 and comments in response to such requests by Canadian Network Operators Consortium Inc. (CNOC) dated 9 January 2018 Inc. and Québecor Media dated 10 January 2018. The letters were filed in confidence in their entirety, but they provided copies to certain telecommunications service providers.
By letter dated 18 January 2018, Commission staff advised parties that the deadlines
for submissions set out in NoC CRTC 2017-405 were suspended and requested that Bell Canada, CNOC and Québecor Media file abridged versions of their respective letters by 23 January 2017. Commission staff also noted it would issue a subsequent letter addressing the confidentiality of these letters.
In response to the Commission staff request, CNOC filed its submission, in its entirety, on the record of the proceeding, while Bell Canada and Québecor Media filed abridged versions of their submission.
With regard to the requests for confidentiality made by Bell Canada and Québecor Media in relation to their 8 and 10 January letters, respectively, staff considers that any harm likely to result from disclosure of the information in respect of which confidentiality has been claimed is outweighed by the public interest in disclosure. Parties to the proceeding must be advised of the issues before the Commission and the rationale provided in support of the requests in order for them to have a meaningful opportunity to comment on the requests. Furthermore, staff considers that the information in respect of which confidentiality has been claimed is vague, general and non-specific: as such, staff considers that disclosure of such information is not likely to result in specific direct harm to the companies.
In the circumstances, staff is of the view disclosure of the entirety of Bell Canada’s letter dated 8 January 2017, and Québecor’s related submission dated 10 January 2018, is in the public interest. Accordingly, Bell Canada and Québecor are to file an unabridged version of the letters in question, for the public record, with the Commission, serving copies on all parties by 2 February 2018.
Parties may submit comments in response to Bell Canada’s procedural requests by 9 February 2018 serving a copy on Bell Canada. Bell Canada may file a reply thereto by 14 February 2018, serving a copy on all other parties.
Sincerely,
(original signed by)
Steven Harroun
Chief Compliance and Enforcement Officer
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