The president of the Tribunal or a designated member can convene the parties or their attorneys to a pre-hearing conference, particularly when the hearing is scheduled for a period of two days or more.

The pre-hearing conference aims to improve the conduct of the hearing and to determine the scope of the debate, its particular purpose is to :

1. Define the questions to be dealt with at the hearing;
2. Clarify or specify the pretensions of the parties;
3. Facilitate the exchange between parties;
4. Plan the proceedings of the hearing;
5. Examine the possiblity of admitting certains facts and/or exhibits;
6. Examine any question likely to improve the conduct of the hearing;
7. Examine or set the hearing date for all preliminary motion.

Pre-hearing conference guidelines

The Tribunal asks the parties to jointly complete the pre-hearing form and to file it with the Tribunal at least two days before the pre-hearing conference.

For the pre-hearing conference, the parties must prepare themselves to answer any questions related to the file so that it can proceed efficiently.

The form is available for download from the Tribunal’s web site in Word format in the Documentation – Forms section (only available in French).

The form is flexible. It allows you to add lines or add space as needed, depending on the number of parties in the file.

The form completed jointly by the parties must be signed and filed with the Tribunal in PDF format (with optical character recognition).

If it is impossible for all the parties to complete the same form, the Tribunal asks that each party sign its form and file both the signed PDF and Word formats.

Note that following the pre-hearing conference, the Tribunal may require the parties to return an updated version of the form.

The form can be filed via our Electronic Filing System with the « Exhibits and other documents » link.

For questions about the pre-hearing conference or the form, please contact the Secretariat.