The Capital Markets Tribunal of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) announced May 3 that it intends to publish plain-language summaries of its reasons for various decisions in a new format. “Decisions in brief” summaries were inspired by a similar format used when publishing the results of Supreme Court of Canada cases.

The summaries, prepared by secretariat staff, do not form part of the tribunal’s reasons, they state. “Decisions in Brief are not for use in legal proceedings,” they add on the tribunal’s website.

“It is important for the tribunal to be transparent, and to be accessible to parties, to those who participate in the capital markets, and to the general public,” says the tribunal’s chief adjudicator, Tim Moseley. “I am confident that these summaries of tribunal decisions will be a welcome addition.” 

The decisions in brief will be published on the tribunal’s website shortly after the official reasons are released.