A handy handbook

Hank Intven of McCarthy Tetrault has produced a big black book – the Canadian Telecommunications Regulatory Handbook, to serve as a convenient single reference source for telecommunications law and regulation. In addition to a synopsis of the rules, the 1200 page book includes the text of the laws, treaties, regulations, directions, orders, rules and other key documents that govern Canadian telecommunications regulation.

Hank is one of Canada’s leading telecom lawyers, with more than 25 years at McCarthy Tetrault, following serving as Executive Director at the CRTC.

The Handbook (certain to become known as the Black Book) was inspired by his colleague Peter Grant’s Red Book, the Canadian Broadcasting Regulatory Handbook.

I have known Hank for for more than 20 years; he was one of the lawyers who advised our team at CNCP / Unitel during the proceeding that led to the introduction of long distance competition in 1992. He has advised carriers, corporations, regulators and government agencies in Canada and around the world on business, regulatory and policy matters.

Many of you will recall that he was one of three members of the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel. That panel recommended precisely the form of liberalization of foreign investment restrictions in Canadian telecommunications, among many other policy recommendations, back in March 2006. It took the government two unnecessary further consultations, to adopt what was recommended by Hank’s panel 6 years earlier.

In flipping through the Black Book, I can see that it will be a handy reference guide for my work. Despite the availability of web-based versions of Acts and Regulations, sometimes paper-based books are the right form factor. Most importantly, the book collects the highlights and most relevant cases and decisions from the tens of thousands cases and files that have been adjudicated by the CRTC, Industry Canada and the courts.

It shouldn’t be part of your library; it should be on the corner of your desk within easy reach.