Recommendations to the Chairperson and Hearing Process

• Status of Ongoing Proceedings
• Decisions and Orders
• Rules of Practice and Procedure for Hearings

If the result of the In-Depth Review is a recommendation to the Chairperson to issue a Notice of Hearing, Staff informs the Rights Holder of that recommendation when it is submitted to the Chairperson.

Rights Holders have two months from the date they are informed of the recommendation to provide a proposed Undertaking they wish for the Chairperson to consider in making their decision. The Chairperson will render their decision no more than three months after receiving Staff’s recommendation.

After an In-Depth Review, the Rights Holder will always be advised of the Chairperson’s decision on whether to close the review or to issue a Notice of Hearing. In cases where a Notice of Hearing is issued, a Rights Holder that would like to resolve the matter before the hearing is concluded may make a settlement proposal to the Hearing Panel. A list of accepted settlement proposals can be found on the Undertakings and Settlement Proposals page.

While the Board makes every effort to promote voluntary compliance with its guidelines, it has the power, after a hearing, to order a reduction in the price to a non-excessive level and to enforce that order. The Board is also able to order a Rights Holder to offset any revenues earned by the Rights Holder as the result of having sold the patented medicine at a higher price. The Board is also able to order a Rights Holder to offset any excess revenues and, in cases where the Board determines there has been a policy of excessive pricing, to double the amount to be offset.

The Board acts as a neutral arbiter between parties before the Board, principally the Board Staff and the Rights Holder although they may also include statutory parties, Minister of Industry, provincial and territorial ministers of health, and any other person or group given standing by the Board. The Board makes its decision based upon the evidence and arguments presented.

The objectives of the Board's hearing process are to:

• provide the Rights Holder with a reasonable opportunity to be heard
• comply with the requirements of procedural fairness and fundamental justice as enunciated by administrative law generally, and the standards set out by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Bill of Rights
• enable the Board to achieve its statutory objectives as efficiently, informally and economically as possible.

Hearings are public, and anyone is welcome to attend. For information on matters currently before the Board, click on Status of Ongoing Proceedings.

For complete documentation on matters before the Board, past and present, please visit the Listing of Board Decisions.