s.43 — Tribunal rules

43 (1) The Tribunal may make rules governing the practice and procedure before it. (2) The rules shall ensure that the following requirements are met with respect to any proceeding before the Tribunal: 1. An application that is within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal shall not be finally disposed of without affording the parties an opportunity to make oral submissions in accordance with the rules. 2. An application may not be finally disposed of without written reasons. (3) Without limiting the generality of subsection (1), the Tribunal rules may, (a) provide for and require the use of hearings or of practices and procedures that are provided for under the Statutory Powers Procedure Act or that are alternatives to traditional adjudicative or adversarial procedures; (b) authorize the Tribunal to, (i) define or narrow the issues required to dispose of an application and limit the evidence and submissions of the parties on such issues, and (ii) determine the order in which the issues and evidence in a proceeding will be presented; (c) authorize the Tribunal to conduct examinations in chief or cross-examinations of a witness; (d) prescribe the stages of its processes at which preliminary, procedural or interlocutory matters will be determined; (e) authorize the Tribunal to make or cause to be made such examinations of records and such other inquiries as it considers necessary in the circumstances; (f) authorize the Tribunal to require a party to a proceeding or another person to, (i) produce any document, information or thing and provide such assistance as is reasonably necessary, including using any data storage, processing or retrieval device or system, to produce the information in any form, (ii) provide a statement or oral or affidavit evidence, or (iii) in the case of a party to the proceeding, adduce evidence or produce witnesses who are reasonably within the party’s control; and (g) govern any matter prescribed by the regulations. (4) The rules may be of general or particular application. (5) The rules shall be consistent with this Part. (6) The rules made under this section are not regulations for the purposes of Part III of the Legislation Act, 2006. (7) The Tribunal shall hold public consultations before making a rule under this section. (8) Failure on the part of the Tribunal to comply with the practices and procedures required by the rules or the exercise of a discretion under the rules by the Tribunal in a particular manner is not a ground for setting aside a decision of the Tribunal on an application for judicial review or any other form of relief, unless the failure or the exercise of a discretion caused a substantial wrong which affected the final disposition of the matter. (9) The Tribunal may draw an adverse inference from the failure of a party to comply, in whole or in part, with an order of the Tribunal for the party to do anything under a rule made under clause (3) (f).