Tariffs-Free Regulatory Importing?
Asad Akhtar
comparison to the close collaborative efforts between law enforcement and the SEC. The federal
government’s initial response to this program was the creation of task force under the
supervision of the RCMP - the Integrated Market Enforcement Team (“IMET”). However,
IMET has failed to prove effective in detecting, enforcing and deterring corporate crime.
The OSC has faced challenges in securing a quasi-criminal provincial prosecution in the
Ontario Court of Justice (“OCJ”) due to the higher burden of proof, extensive use of
circumstantial evidence in white collar crime, and inability to utilize its statutory power to
compel testimony from respondents. To address these challenges, the OSC has collaborated with
the RCMP and the OPP to create JSOT. JSOT operates as a collective unit and empowers OSC
Staff to access a wider arsenal of investigative tools pursuant to the Criminal Code. Since its
initiation, JSOT has had remarkable success in bringing prompt and efficient enforcement action
against serious breaches of the Act. However, it remains to be seen if JSOT is capable of
detecting and successfully prosecuting mainstream fraud enact ed by complex market
participants. JSOT is also hindered by the inability to utilize wiretaps for insider trading
offences; a tool that has been extremely fruitful in uncovering complex fraud in the American
context.
Part Five of the paper concludes that the OSC’s adoption of these tools provide a
positive outlook on the future of securities regulation in Canada. Beyond the policies having the
potential to increase the regulator’s ability in providing prompt and meaningful enforcement
action, this paper has also indicated that these tools are not a “tariffs free” importation of
American securities regulation. Rather, they been drafted in close consideration of the
challenges occurring south of the border and their appropriateness for the local markets.
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