Canadian Lawyer InHouse

Jane Fedoretz daniel marion alaine grand mirko bibic anna Fung geoff creighton reflecting on view 2013 predictions we revisit our conversations with last year's view 2013 interviewees to see how the year panned out. mirko Bibic, evP, chief legal and regulatory officer, Bce Preparing for compliance with Canada's anti-spam legislation was an immense undertaking, involving significant work and investment in 2013, both in our business units and in the regulatory team. We undertook extensive audits of our commercial electronic message and downloading activities, and created a database to track customer consents and preferences with respect to CEMs and downloads. Many business processes and contracting documents had to be adjusted. We also developed an integrated web page that allows customers to easily manage their marketing preferences with Bell relating to telemarketing, relevant advertising, and CEMs across all Bell companies. It was a lot of work but as a result, we're well-prepared for CASL coming into force on July 1. daniel marion, vice president, general counsel and When we spoke last year, I told corporate secretary, Thales canada inc. you we would be back at it with Astral As I predicted, there was further enforcement of the Corruption of through the Spring of 2013. Soon after, Foreign Public Officials Act with its first conviction. In R. v. Karigar, we announced an agreement securing the Ontario Superior Court of Justice convicted Nazir Karigar of Competition Bureau approval of the agreeing to offer a bribe to a foreign official contrary to section 3(1) transaction, pending certain divestitures. (b) of the act and the Integrity in Public Contracts Act (Quebec) had a That set the stage for another CRTC spectacular impact on companies involved and bidding on large public proceeding, with final approval of the contracts. We have seen companies advertising their compliance commitment to be seen transaction in late June. We closed the as good corporate citizens, this will have a long-term effect. Thales Canada maintained transaction on July 5 and completed the the course set many years ago in this area, the processes are in place but we always remain integration of Astral into Bell Media vigilant by streamlining decision-making in areas where we could encounter risks and by soon after. But it's indicative of the maintaining our training. complexity of these kinds of transactions Although some potential (key) projects were postponed to 2014 in rail signalling we in as heavily regulated an industry as have had our fair share of market opportunities in 2013. With six new lines in China broadcasting that we'll be working through our joint venture with Shanghai Electric, two new lines in Hong Kong, our first through approvals on the various breakthrough in Chile, and on the home front, the Ottawa LRT. In Defense & Security divestiture transactions into the Spring we secured 10 new contracts. In aerospace our sustaining programs are generating stable of 2014, two full years after we first revenues. The contract in Chile will require the addition of a Spanish-speaking lawyer or announced the acquisition. contract manager to our team. canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse February 2014 27

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