Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50874
counsel here [in Canada] who actually understand what the foreign invest- ment regime is. . . . Having laws in India actually isn't a problem. The situ- ation is there are too many laws." Sunny Handa, a partner at Blakes Cassels & Graydon LLP in Montreal, is co-head of both the firm's information technology group and its India practice group. He says concerns over whether India has laws or not protecting privacy may be a bit overblown. "India is no different than other countries," he says. "Generally you don't want the informa- Fast Facts India Trade with Canada Economic Data 2008 Economic Data, 2008 India GDP (Cdn$ trillions) GDP per capita (Cdn$) GDP growth rate Inflation rate Unemployment rate 1.2 1,067 9.0 per cent 6.4 per cent 6.7 per cent Bilateral Merchandise Trade 2008 (Cdn$ billions) Canadian exports to India Canadian imports from India 2.4 2.2 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Stock 2008 (end of year, Cdn$ millions) Canadian FDI in India FDI in Canada from India 801 1,022 Percentage change from previous year +24.4 +137.7 • Canada's largest merchandise export items to India in 2008 were fertilizers which grew by 287.5 per cent from 2007. The second-largest were vegetables accounting for $422.8 million. • Other exports include paper and paperboard, machinery, wood pulp, and electrical and electronic equipment. • Canada's main import from India was organic chemicals. The import value in 2008 was $409.1 million, up 28.7 per cent from the year before. • Other import items include precious stones and metals, including diamonds and jewellery, and knit and woven apparel. Source: Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada 1.5 46,637 2.7 per cent 2.3 per cent 6.1 per cent Canada tion out, whether there are or aren't laws. Canada has had to deal with the fact that it does live in a globalized world, and that information does move around and gets shipped offshore for processing and storage." Canadian Privacy Commissioner's guidelines on protection of personal information flowing across interna- tional borders is a place counsel should start, Handa says. Those rules say there needs to be effective legal protections in place wherever the personal and private information may be shipped. "Often that is done by contracts. With anyone who is receiving the informa- tion to make sure that they fully respect the consents that have been given and, effectively the same regime that the Canadian sender of the information is respecting, but also you are going to want to make sure you do some addi- tional diligence." Ochrym also believes it is important Percentage change from previous year +34.9 +11.2 having local people in India to help guide your business. "There is a great value to being on the ground there, to get the information from your local law firm, from local people on the ground who understand the environment, and great value to talking with your part- ners, or talking with your counterparts over there." Corporate research, knowing who you are dealing with, and making sure you are partnering up with reputable companies is important. "Is it a well- established, well-known company, one of the big outsourcing houses where they take this stuff very seriously, or no one is going to be doing business with them?" Handa asks. "The interesting thing I found touring some of those facilities, whether it is telecom compa- nies, outsourcing companies et cetera, programming houses in India, is they take physical security at the local level extremely seriously. We don't, by con- trast, yes everyone has a key card here for the door right? But the reality is we don't have guys with guns who are in a compound area and anyone who wants INHOUSE AUGUST 2009 • 25