Inventory of Reforms

Sedona Canada Principles

Description	Overview of the Sedona Canada Principles which consist of guidelines designed to facilitate discovery of electronically stored information in keeping with the principle of proportionality.
Status	Guidelines
Jurisdiction	National
Body responsible	The Sedona Conference
Subjects	electronic discovery proportionality

Publications
Sedona Canada, The Sedona Canada Principles: Addressing Electronic Discovery (The Sedona Conference, 2008). (http://www.lexum.umontreal.ca/e-discovery/documents/SedonaCanadaPrinciples01-08.pdf)
Development
When work was undertaken in Ontario on guidelines for e-discovery, rather than rule amendment, those involved understood that to be truly effective, guidelines had to be at least national if not international in scope. A number of individuals who helped develop the Ontario guidelines eagerly joined other practicing lawyers, judges, in-house counsel and law society representatives from across Canada. They, together with the organizers of The Sedona Conference and observers from the U.S. federal judiciary, came together to form The Sedona Canada Working Group 7 (Sedona Canada Principles). Drawing on the work previously undertaken by The Sedona Conference® with respect to U.S. guidelines, and with the benefit of work in Ontario, the undertaking of Sedona Canada over several days at Mont Tremblant and more recently at Kananaskis was amongst the most productive and most collegial with which we have been associated. Sedona Canada Principles at ii.
Description of reforms
The Sedona Canada Principles consist of guidelines designed to work in addition to existing rules of civil procedure to facilitate discovery of electronically stored information. In particular, the rules attempt to provide for an e-discovery process which takes into account the principle of proportionality. Principles include: ensuring the process used is proportional to the matter at issue, adhering to an obligation to preserve relevant electronically stored information when litigation is anticipated, being prepared to produce information that is reasonably accessible, early meeting and agreement on a plan for e-discovery. A summary of the principles is available on page iv of the full Sedona Canada Principles report.
Related reforms
Partially based on Ontario Discovery Task Force
Revision History
This summary was created on 2008-01-24 It was last reviewed to ensure currency on 2010-06-10

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If you have updates, changes, or additional information regarding this reform, please contact our Librarian, Brad Albrecht, at balbrecht@cfcj-fcjc.org.

URL

http://cfcj-fcjc.org/inventory/reform.php?id=63

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