With regard to the definition of confidential business information, the definition sets out the three conditions that must be met in order for information to be considered confidential business information and appropriately safeguarded by the minister. The definition entrenches common-law principles and is consistent with the definition of the same in other domestic legislation, for example, the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act. It is also consistent with the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights— TRIPS—and the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The conditions set out in the definition are also consistent with the practice by regulators in other jurisdictions, such as the United States Food and Drug Administration, the FDA, and the European Union's European Medicines Agency. The definition is necessary to support the minister's power to disclose confidential business information for the purpose of identifying or responding to a serious risk of injury to human health—as identified in clause 3—to persons from whom the minister seeks advice or to a government or to a person who carries out functions related to the protection or promotion of human health—as identified in clause 3—and, for regulation-making authority, as identified in clause 6.