On the issue of the trade secrets portion of the proposed amendment, there are some concerns that it could create some challenges. In the situation we're talking about here and with the way this is formulated, we understand it would essentially attempt to override existing intellectual property law to suggest that anything that is essential “diagnostic, maintenance, repair and calibration information” does not constitute a trade secret. This is something that could not necessarily be managed appropriately through the Competition Act, but rather in intellectual property law.
There are some concerns about blurring what constitutes the provision of information that enables a repair versus the trade secret that may be behind that. For example, think of a specific lubricant that is important for the repair and maintenance of a vehicle. The provision of or access to that product would be important for the diagnosis or repair work, but it would not be necessary, for example, to reveal the formulation of that lubricant, which could constitute the trade secret.
There is a concern around part (b) and what's being attempted there, which is essentially to suggest that a trade secret “does not include any essential diagnostic, maintenance, repair or....” There could be a bit of an unfortunate blurring there, which should be considered by the committee, for sure.