Industry committee  Yes. Different states have different policies and mandates. Some do use our mark as an authorized certification mark.

Industry committee  Thank you. I believe the strain on industry for protecting their own IP is quite heavy. If we can get any of these changes made to government, it would be amazing. We would be behind that, for sure.

Industry committee  That's correct. We have a public database. It is open to the public and industry if they want to check their product and it has a file number related to it.

Industry committee  It's not that simple. Right now, it's buyer beware.

Industry committee  Right now, most major retailers have their own supply chain security and verification systems in place. On occasion, what happens, for example, is this. On the Christmas lights that I mentioned earlier, their supplier in Asia sourced it from a manufacturer that provided counterfeit CSA documents and counterfeit testing documents, so these things do slip through the supply chain.

Industry committee  Right. We are working with the retailers. We have a public database where they can verify that the products they are sourcing are certified by CSA, and likewise with other certification bodies, such as UL or ETL. It's really up to them right now. We don't have anything in place on our borders to prevent or check the products coming in, so there's no real screening process for counterfeit products coming into the country.

Industry committee  That's right.

Industry committee  I provide training to both Canadian Customs and U.S. Customs on an ongoing basis. I believe the difference is they have a trademark recordal system. Where our trademarks are recorded with them, they will verify it. They also have more resources, merchandise inspectors. For example, they'll have someone who focuses on electronic goods, and a team that focuses on toys.

Industry committee  There is a small fee. It's just a registration fee, basically.

Industry committee  I'm not sure how the cost works out. I understand that protecting intellectual property pays off for domestic industry.

Industry committee  Thank you. Honourable committee members, thank you for this opportunity today to be here on behalf of the Canadian Standards Association, known as the CSA Group. I've been working in intellectual property enforcement for over 15 years now. I've worked for companies such as the Canadian Recording Industry Association and Nike Canada, so I've worked for some companies with some big IP.