Section 18 — Competition Act: Commissioner to take reasonable care

Where any record or other thing is produced pursuant to section 11 or seized pursuant to section 15 or 16, the Commissioner shall take reasonable care to ensure that it is preserved until it is returned to the person by whom it was produced or from whom it was seized or until it is required to be produced in any proceeding under this Act. The Commissioner need not return any copy of a record produced under section 11 or obtained under section 15 or 16. The person by whom a record or other thing is produced pursuant to section 11 or from whom a record or other thing is seized pursuant to section 15 or 16 is entitled, at any reasonable time and subject to such reasonable conditions as may be imposed by the Commissioner, to inspect the record or other thing. The Commissioner may, before returning any record produced pursuant to section 11 or seized pursuant to section 15 or 16, make or cause to be made, and may retain, a copy thereof. Any record or other thing that is produced pursuant to section 11, or the retention of which is authorized under subsection 17(3), shall be returned to the person by whom it was produced or the person from whom it was seized not later than sixty days after it was produced or its retention was authorized, unless, before the expiration of that period, the person by whom it was produced or from whom it was seized agrees to its further detention for a specified period of time; the judge who authorized its production or retention or a judge of the same court is satisfied on application that, having regard to the circumstances, its further detention for a specified period of time is warranted and the judge so orders; or proceedings are instituted in which the record or thing may be required.