(b) the manner of and procedures for dealing with matters and business before the Agency, including the circumstances in which hearings may be held in private; and
	(c) the number of members that are required to hear any matter or perform any of the functions of the Agency under this Act or any other Act of Parliament.
	Head Office
Head office	18. (1) The head office of the Agency shall be in the National Capital Region described in the schedule to the National Capital Act.
Residence of Chairperson	(2) The Chairperson shall reside in the National Capital Region described in the schedule to the National Capital Act or within any distance of it that the Governor in Council determines.
	Staff
Secretary, officers and employees	19. The Secretary of the Agency and the other officers and employees that are necessary for the proper conduct of the business of the Agency shall be appointed in accordance with the Public Service Employment Act.
Technical experts	20. The Agency may appoint and, subject to any applicable Treasury Board directive, fix the remuneration of experts or persons who have technical or special knowledge to assist the Agency in an advisory capacity in respect of any matter before the Agency.
	Records
Duties of Secretary	21. (1) The Secretary of the Agency shall
	(a) maintain a record in which shall be entered a true copy of every rule, order, decision and regulation of the Agency and any other documents that the Agency requires to be entered in it; and
	(b) keep at the Agency's office a copy of all rules, orders, decisions and regulations of the Agency and the records of proceedings of the Agency.
Entries in record	(2) The entry of a document in the record referred to in paragraph (1)(a) shall constitute the original record of the document.
Copies of documents obtainable	22. On the application of any person, and on payment of a fee fixed by the Agency, the Secretary of the Agency or, in the absence of the Secretary, the person assigned by the Chairperson to act in the absence shall issue under the seal of the Agency to the applicant a certified copy of any rule, order, regulation or any other document that has been issued by the Agency.
Judicial notice of documents	23. (1) Judicial notice shall be taken of a document issued by the Agency under its seal without proof of the signature or official character of the person appearing to have signed it.
Evidence of deposited documents	(2) A document purporting to be certified by the Secretary of the Agency as being a true copy of a document deposited or filed with or approved by the Agency, or any portion of such a document, is evidence that the document is so deposited, filed or approved and, if stated in the certificate, of the time when the document was deposited, filed or approved.
	Powers of Agency
Policy governs Agency	24. The powers, duties and functions of the Agency respecting any matter that comes within its jurisdiction under an Act of Parliament shall be exercised and performed in conformity with any policy direction issued to the Agency under section 43.
Agency powers in general	25. The Agency has, with respect to all matters necessary or proper for the exercise of its jurisdiction, the attendance and examination of witnesses, the production and inspection of documents, the enforcement of its orders or regulations and the entry on and inspection of property, all the powers, rights and privileges that are vested in a superior court.
Power to award costs	25.1 (1) Subject to subsections (2) to (4), the Agency has all the powers that the Federal Court has to award costs in any proceeding before it.
Costs may be fixed or taxed	(2) Costs may be fixed in any case at a sum certain or may be taxed.
Payment	(3) The Agency may direct by whom and to whom costs are to be paid and by whom they are to be taxed and allowed.
Scale	(4) The Agency may make rules specifying a scale under which costs are to be taxed.
Compelling observance of obligations	26. The Agency may require a person to do or refrain from doing any thing that the person is or may be required to do or is prohibited from doing under any Act of Parliament that is administered in whole or in part by the Agency.
Relief	27. (1) On an application made to the Agency, the Agency may grant the whole or part of the application, or may make any order or grant any further or other relief that to the Agency seems just and proper.
Limitation	(2) Where an application is made to the Agency by a shipper in respect of a transportation rate or service, the Agency may grant the relief sought, in whole or in part, but in making its decision the Agency must be satisfied, after considering the circumstances of the particular case, that the applicant would suffer substantial commercial harm if the relief were not granted.
Circumstances	(3) The circumstances to be considered by the Agency in making its decision under subsection (2) must include, but are not limited to, the following:
	(a) the market or market conditions relating to the goods involved;
	(b) the location and volume of traffic of the goods;
	(c) the scale of operation connected with the traffic;
	(d) the type of traffic or service involved;
	(e) the availability to the applicant of alternative means of transporting the goods; and
	(f) any other matters that appear to the Agency to be relevant.
Amendments	(4) The Agency may, on terms or otherwise, make or allow any amendments in any proceedings before it.
No applicability to final offer arbitration	(5) This section does not apply in respect of final offer arbitration under Part IV.
Orders	28. (1) The Agency may in any order direct that the order or a portion or provision of it shall come into force
	(a) at a future time,
	(b) on the happening of any contingency, event or condition specified in the order, or
	(c) on the performance, to the satisfaction of the Agency or a person named by it, of any terms that the Agency may impose on an interested party,
	and the Agency may direct that the whole or any portion of the order shall have force for a limited time or until the happening of a specified event.
Interim orders	(2) The Agency may, instead of making an order final in the first instance, make an interim order and reserve further directions either for an adjourned hearing of the matter or for further application.
Time for making decisions	29. (1) The Agency shall make its decision in any proceedings before it as expeditiously as possible, but no later than one hundred and twenty days after the originating documents are received, unless the parties agree to an extension or this Act or a regulation made under subsection (2) provides otherwise.
Period for specified classes	(2) The Governor in Council may, by regulation, prescribe periods of less than one hundred and twenty days within which the Agency shall make its decision in respect of such classes of proceedings as are specified in the regulation.
Pending proceedings	30. The fact that a suit, prosecution or proceeding involving a question of fact is pending in any court does not deprive the Agency of jurisdiction to hear and determine the same question of fact.
Fact finding is conclusive	31. The finding or determination of the Agency on a question of fact within its jurisdiction is binding and conclusive.
Review of decisions and orders	32. The Agency may review, rescind or vary any decision or order made by it or may re-hear any application before deciding it if, in the opinion of the Agency, since the decision or order or the hearing of the application, there has been a change in the facts or circumstances pertaining to the decision, order or hearing.
Enforcement of decision or order	33. (1) A decision or order of the Agency may be made an order of the Federal Court or of any superior court and is enforceable in the same manner as such an order.
Procedure	(2) To make a decision or order an order of a court, either the usual practice and procedure of the court in such matters may be followed or the Secretary of the Agency may file with the registrar of the court a certified copy of the decision or order, signed by the Chairperson and sealed with the Agency's seal, at which time the decision or order becomes an order of the court.
Effect of variation or rescission	(3) Where a decision or order that has been made an order of a court is rescinded or varied by a subsequent decision or order of the Agency, the order of the court is deemed to have been cancelled and the subsequent decision or order may be made an order of the court.
Option to enforce	(4) The Agency may, before or after one of its decisions or orders is made an order of a court, enforce the decision or order by its own action.
Fees	34. (1) The Agency may, by rule, fix the fees that are to be paid to the Agency in respect of applications made to it, including applications for licences or permits and applications for amendments to or for the renewal of licences or permits, and any other matters brought before or dealt with by the Agency.
Advance notice to Minister	(2) The Agency shall give the Minister notice of every rule proposed to be made under subsection (1).
Fees for witnesses	35. Every person summoned to attend before the Agency under this Part or before a person making an inquiry under this Part shall receive the fees and allowances for so doing that the Agency may, by regulation, prescribe.
Approval of regulations required	36. (1) Every regulation made by the Agency under this Act must be made with the approval of the Governor in Council.
Advance notice of regulations	(2) The Agency shall give the Minister notice of every regulation proposed to be made by the Agency under this Act.
	Inquiries
Inquiry into complaint	37. The Agency may inquire into, hear and determine a complaint concerning any act, matter or thing prohibited, sanctioned or required to be done under any Act of Parliament that is administered in whole or in part by the Agency.
Appointment of person to conduct inquiry	38. (1) The Agency may appoint a member, or an employee of the Agency, to make any inquiry that the Agency is authorized to conduct and report to the Agency.
Dealing with report	(2) On receipt of the report under subsection (1), the Agency may adopt the report as a decision or order of the Agency or otherwise deal with it as it considers advisable.
Powers on inquiry	39. A person conducting an inquiry may, for the purposes of the inquiry,
	(a) enter and inspect any place, other than a dwelling-house, or any structure, work, rolling stock or ship that is the property or under the control of any person the entry or inspection of which appears to the inquirer to be necessary; and
	(b) exercise the same powers as are vested in a superior court to summon witnesses, enforce their attendance and compel them to give evidence and produce any materials, books, papers, plans, specifications, drawings and other documents that the inquirer thinks necessary.
	Review and Appeal
Governor in Council may vary or rescind orders, etc.	40. The Governor in Council may, at any time, in the discretion of the Governor in Council, either on petition of a party or an interested person or of the Governor in Council's own motion, vary or rescind any decision, order, rule or regulation of the Agency, whether the decision or order is made inter partes or otherwise, and whether the rule or regulation is general or limited in its scope and application, and any order that the Governor in Council may make to do so is binding on the Agency and on all parties.
Appeal from Agency	41. (1) An appeal lies from the Agency to the Federal Court of Appeal on a question of law or a question of jurisdiction on leave to appeal being obtained from that Court on application made within one month after the date of the decision, order, rule or regulation being appealed from, or within any further time that a judge of that Court under special circumstances allows, and on notice to the parties and the Agency, and on hearing those of them that appear and desire to be heard.
Time for making appeal	(2) No appeal, after leave to appeal has been obtained under subsection (1), lies unless it is entered in the Federal Court of Appeal within sixty days after the order granting leave to appeal is made.
Powers of Court	(3) An appeal shall be heard as quickly as is practicable and, on the hearing of the appeal, the Court may draw any inferences that are not inconsistent with the facts expressly found by the Agency and that are necessary for determining the question of law or jurisdiction, as the case may be.
Agency may be heard	(4) The Agency is entitled to be heard by counsel or otherwise on the argument of an appeal.
	Report of Agency
Report of Agency	42. (1) Each year the Agency shall, before the end of May, make a report on the activities of the Agency for the preceding year and submit it to the Governor in Council through the Minister describing briefly, in respect of that year,
	(a) applications to the Agency and the findings on them; and
	(b) the findings of the Agency in regard to any matter or thing respecting which the Agency has acted on the request of the Minister.
Assessment of Act	(2) The Agency shall include in every report referred to in subsection (1) the Agency's assessment of the operation of this Act and any difficulties observed in the administration of this Act.
Tabling of report	(3) The Minister shall have a copy of each report made under this section laid before each House of Parliament on any of the first thirty days on which that House is sitting after the Minister receives it.