Score one for the average cell phone carrying Canadian! A court challenge brought against the CRTC by Rogers, Telus, and Bell over the Wireless Code has been dismissed by a Federal Court. Their issue was the final implementation date of the code and the big three claimed that the code amounted to the CRTC retroactively regulating existing contract terms. Here’s what The Globe And Mail had to say:
Justice Denis Pelletier, writing for the unanimous three-member panel, found the code did apply retroactively to contractual rights already entered into before the code came into effect.
However, he found the CRTC’s decision to interpret its governing legislation in such a way that gave it the right to make the code retroactively effective was reasonable.
“It is reasonable to have all customers on the same footing as soon as possible,” Justice Pelletier wrote.
He also noted that it was important to consider the code as a whole and that it also related to the final implementation of other customer protection measures such as plain language in contracts and the provision of critical information.
This will leave wireless carriers scrambling to brace for a June 3 deadline where all three of these carriers will be trying hard to keep existing customers from bolting to each other and to upstart wireless companies like Wind. I will admit that there is always the possibility that they will appeal to the Supreme Court Of Canada. But in the here and now it’s a big win for consumers as it forces the big three to do something they’ve never had to do before: Compete for customers.
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This entry was posted on May 20, 2015 at 7:11 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Canada, wireless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Cell Carriers Beaten By CRTC Over Wireless Code
Score one for the average cell phone carrying Canadian! A court challenge brought against the CRTC by Rogers, Telus, and Bell over the Wireless Code has been dismissed by a Federal Court. Their issue was the final implementation date of the code and the big three claimed that the code amounted to the CRTC retroactively regulating existing contract terms. Here’s what The Globe And Mail had to say:
Justice Denis Pelletier, writing for the unanimous three-member panel, found the code did apply retroactively to contractual rights already entered into before the code came into effect.
However, he found the CRTC’s decision to interpret its governing legislation in such a way that gave it the right to make the code retroactively effective was reasonable.
“It is reasonable to have all customers on the same footing as soon as possible,” Justice Pelletier wrote.
He also noted that it was important to consider the code as a whole and that it also related to the final implementation of other customer protection measures such as plain language in contracts and the provision of critical information.
This will leave wireless carriers scrambling to brace for a June 3 deadline where all three of these carriers will be trying hard to keep existing customers from bolting to each other and to upstart wireless companies like Wind. I will admit that there is always the possibility that they will appeal to the Supreme Court Of Canada. But in the here and now it’s a big win for consumers as it forces the big three to do something they’ve never had to do before: Compete for customers.
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This entry was posted on May 20, 2015 at 7:11 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Canada, wireless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.