Tag Archives: OECD

Mark Warner was interviewed by the Financial Post for its Outlook 2024 series about Canada’s trade outlook for the coming year. (January 2, 2024) Mr. Warner is a Canadian and U.S. lawyer who has practiced in Toronto, Washington, D.C., New York and Brussels and has advised governments on trade policy and trade negotiations. Mark was Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade advising on trade negotiations and dispute settlement and on economic development, research and innovation grants and loans to corporations, including Huawei. Mr. Warner also previously worked on trade and competition issues as counsel in the OECD Trade Directorate where he participated in the negotiations of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment and represented the OECD at meetings of the WTO Working Group on Trade and Competition Policy and the Working Group on Trade and Investment.

As a former Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade and led the Ontario’s legal team for the insolvency / restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler. As a former Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Research & Innovation, Mark was responsible for establishing the Ontario Capital Growth Corporation and led Ontario’s legal team in creating the $250 million Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund, the $205 million Ontario Venture Capital Fund and establishing the Ontario Capital Growth Corporation.

Mark has been an adviser to the Governments of Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam on competition and trade policy and at the invitation of the U.S. Department of State lectured in five cities in Japan on international antitrust law and policy.

Mark provides international trade and investment law advice to natural resources clients on trade agreements, trade remedies, Investment Canada and CFIUS issues, sanctions, export and import controls, foreign asset controls, anti-corruption, corporate social responsibility and compliance issues as a colleague at Pilot Law which provides comprehensive legal services for developing resource businesses in the mining, energy and renewables sectors.

Mark Warner was featured on the CBC Weekend Business Panel talking about Air Canada & Delta Airlines employee COVID19 vaccine mandates, Shopify‘s new TikTok partnership and the Nirvana baby suing for a sixteenth minute of fame. (August 28, 2021) Mark is a Canadian and U.S. lawyer who has practiced in Toronto, Washington, DC and New York and previously worked on trade and competition issues as counsel in the OECD Trade Directorate, and represented the OECD Trade Directorate at meetings of the WTO Working Group on Trade and Competition and the Working Group on Trade and Investment.

Mark chaired an Insight Research Canadian Sharing Economy Symposium in Toronto in 2015. As a former Acting Legal Director for the Ontario Ministry of Consumer Services, Mark was responsible for prosecutions under the provincial consumer protection laws and regulations. Mark’s experience with online technologies and e-commerce includes: participating in OECD-wide policy work on laws and regulations affecting e-commerce, acting as Chair, ICC Competition Commission Working Party on E-Commerce and Competition Policy, serving as an original ICANN domain name dispute resolution arbitrator for eResolution and WIPO and as Rapporteur of the Hague Conference on Private International Law Commission on Jurisdiction for Torts in Electronic Commerce.

As Legal Director for the Ontario Ministry of Research & Innovation, Mr. Warner was responsible for establishing the Ontario Capital Growth Corporation (OCGC) and providing corporate governance legal advice and secretarial support to its Board of Directors. Mr. Warner’s work with the airline industry includes: successfully coordinating multijurisdictional merger filings and abuse of dominance complaints .

As Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade, Mr. Warner advised Ontario on the negotiations of the Canada-EU Trade Agreement (CETA) including on IP, patent litigation and drug reimbursement issues and on economic development, research and innovation grants and loans to corporations, including leading global pharmaceutical companies for research, manufacture and clinical trial projects. In private practice, Mr. Warner assisted pharmaceutical clients in the global distribution of HIV / AIDS anti-retroviral drugs and the development of innovative patient access programs in the developing world.

Mark Warner was featured on the CBC Weekend Business Panel talking about the G7 global corporate tax deal, Air Canada pandemic executive bonuses, diversity on Canadian corporate boards and GDP growth rates. (June 5, 2021) Mr. Warner is a Canadian and U.S. lawyer who has practiced in Toronto, Washington, D.C., New York and Brussels has advised governments on trade policy and trade negotiations. As counsel at the OECD Trade Directorate, he advised on harmful tax competition issues and worked on other trade and competition issues. As Legal Director for the Ontario Ministry of Research & Innovation, Mr. Warner was responsible for establishing the Ontario Capital Growth Corporation (OCGC) and providing corporate governance legal advice and secretarial support to its Board of Directors, as well as to the Board of Directors of the Ontario Immigrant Investor Corporation (OIIC), and other agencies administered by the Ministries.

As Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade, Mr. Warner provided strategic legal advice with respect to the Ontario’s economic development, research and innovation grants and loans to corporations and and led the Province’s legal team for the insolvency / restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler. He is co-author of a leading Canadian trade law treatise, has also published numerous articles and has been invited to speak at conferences around the world.

Mr. Warner’s work with the airline industry includes: successfully coordinating multijurisdictional merger filings in the airport services industry in Canada, the United States, United Kingdom and Germany; coordinating the merger notification and review of the acquisition of a regional chartered air carrier and a national scheduled air carrier in the United States; and representing a client in connection with an EU competition complaint against a dominant air carrier regarding restrictions on both passengers and travel agents that require the sequential use of airline tickets.

Mark Warner was quoted in the Financial Post about the proposed budget boost for the Canadian Competition Bureau and whether it is likely to increase enforcement. (May 3, 2021) Mark is a Canadian and U.S. lawyer who has practiced in Toronto, Washington, D.C, New York and Brussels and has advised governments on competition law and policy. As counsel at the OECD Trade Directorate, Mark advised on on other trade and competition issues and represented the OECD at meetings of the WTO Working Group on Trade and Competition and Working Group on Trade and Investment. Mark is a past Chair of the International and Economics Committees of the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law as well as a member of the Section’s Task Forces on Competition Policy and NAFTA and Antitrust in the Global Economy. He has been listed in the Euromoney / International Financial Law Review Guide to the World’s Leading Competition lawyers. In 2015, Mark was elected a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Mark is also a former Acting Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Consumer Services and was responsible for prosecutions under the Consumer Protection Act (Ontario).

Mark Warner was interviewed on the CBC Weekend Business Panel talking about Canadian job losses in January, regulation after the GameStop “revolution”, Google vs Microsoft in Australia and Jeff Bezos stepping down as Amazon’s CEO (February 6, 2021) Mark is a Canadian and U.S. lawyer who has practiced in Toronto, Washington, DC and New York and has advised governments on trade policy and trade negotiations and previously worked on trade and competition issues as counsel in the OECD Trade Directorate, and represented the OECD Trade Directorate at meetings of the WTO Working Group on Trade and Competition and the Working Group on Trade and Investment.

Mark chaired an Insight Research Canadian Sharing Economy Symposium in Toronto in 2015. As a former Acting Legal Director for the Ontario Ministry of Consumer Services, Mark was responsible for prosecutions under the provincial consumer protection laws and regulations. Mark’s experience with online technologies and e-commerce includes: participating in OECD-wide policy work on laws and regulations affecting e-commerce, acting as Chair, ICC Competition Commission Working Party on E-Commerce and Competition Policy, serving as an original ICANN domain name dispute resolution arbitrator for eResolution and WIPO and as Rapporteur of the Hague Conference on Private International Law Commission on Jurisdiction for Torts in Electronic Commerce.

Mark was Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade and advised the Ontario Government with respect to cross-border trade in services, state enterprises and monopolies in the Canada-EU Trade Agreement (CETA) negotiations. As Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, Mark also led Ontario’s legal team in creating the $250 million Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund, the $205 million Ontario Venture Capital Fund and establishing the Ontario Capital Growth Corporation and advised on research and innovation grants and loans to academics, universities and corporations.

Mark Warner was interviewed on Global News Radio 640 Toronto about the delay by Pfizer in delivering COVID19 vaccines to Canada against the backdrop of pharmaceutical industry concerns with Canadian intellectual property, tax and drug pricing policies. (January 20, 2021) Mr. Warner is a Canadian and U.S. lawyer who has practiced in Toronto, Washington, DC and New York and has advised governments on trade policy and trade negotiations and previously worked on trade and competition issues as counsel in the OECD Trade Directorate.

Mr. Warner has assisted pharmaceutical clients in the global distribution of HIV / AIDS anti-retroviral drugs and the development of innovative patient access programs in the developing world, advised a U.S.-based pharmaceutical company and its French and South African subsidiaries in a cartel investigation involving 11 leading global Pharmaceutical companies in South Africa and advised a U.S.-based pharmaceutical company on competition law issues relating to the distribution of various nuclear medicine imaging agents in Canada. Mr. Warner was Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade and advised Ontario on the negotiations of the Canada-EU Trade Agreement (CETA) including on IP, patent litigation and drug reimbursement issues and on economic development, research and innovation grants and loans to corporations, including leading global pharmaceutical companies for research, manufacture and clinical trial projects. As Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, Mr. Warner also led Ontario’s legal team in creating the $250 million Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund with an emphasis on life-sciences companies, drafted funding agreements, including for the Ontario Research Fund and Ontario Brain Institute, and advised on legal and corporate governance issues in the formation of Clinical Trials Ontario.

In addition, Mr. Warner, led the Province’s legal team for the insolvency / restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler in the difficult context of the 2008-2009 Recession.

Mark Warner discussed government debt / deficits, the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) digital tax proposal and support for innovation in Canadian election party platforms on the CBC Weekend Business Panel. (October 12, 2019) Mr. Warner is a Canadian and U.S. lawyer who has practiced in Toronto, Washington, DC and New York and has advised governments on trade policy and trade negotiations. As counsel at the OECD Trade Directorate, Mr. Warner advised on harmful tax competition issues and worked on other trade and competition issues. As Legal Director for the Ontario Ministry of Research & Innovation, Mr. Warner led Ontario’s legal team in creating the $250 million Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund, the $205 million Ontario Venture Capital Fund and establishing the Ontario Capital Growth Corporation. As Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade provided strategic legal advice with respect to the Ontario’s economic development, research and innovation grants and loans to corporations and led Ontario’s legal team for trade negotiations and trade and investment disputes. He is co-author of a leading Canadian trade law treatise, has also published numerous articles and has been invited to speak at conferences around the world.

Mark Warner was interviewed by the Financial Post on the status of the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) in Congress after the launch of an impeachment inquiry into President Trump by Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. (October 2, 2019) Mr. Warner is a Canadian and U.S. lawyer who has practiced in Toronto, Washington, DC and New York and has advised governments on trade policy and trade negotiations and previously worked on trade and competition issues as counsel in the OECD Trade Directorate. Mr. Warner was Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade led Ontario’s legal team for trade negotiations (including the Canada-EU Trade Agreement and the Canada-U.S. Agreement on Government Procurement), advised on trade disputes (including the Green Energy Act and softwood lumber) and various NAFTA Chapter 11 investor-state, advised on various NAFTA Chapter 11 investor-state arbitration. He is co-author of a leading Canadian trade law treatise, has also published numerous articles and has been invited to speak at conferences around the world.

Mark Warner was quoted in a Tax Notes International Article on the recent decision of the WTO Appellate Body on Panama’s challenge to certain Argentinian “defensive” measures on financial services and service providers from certain jurisdictions that do not cooperate or agree to information sharing in tax  enforcement. (April 19, 2016) The WTO Appellate Body circulated its decision on April 15th. The panel decision is particularly important in light of the recent threats by the G20, the European Union and the United States to sanction tax havens after the Panama Papers scandal. As counsel at the OECD Trade Directorate, Mr. Warner advised on harmful tax competition issues and previously worked on other trade and competition issues. Mr. Warner was Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade participated in the Canada-European Union Trade Agreement (CETA) negotiations including the chapters on investment and trade in services. Mr. Warner advises governments and business clients on trade policy, trade disputes and trade negotiations.

Mark Warner published a Comment in the Globe and Mail Report on Business on recent WTO dispute settlement decisions relating to tax avoidance and money laundering. (April 16, 2016) The recent Panama Papers unauthorized release of confidential documents for many offshore entities has, like the 2014 LuxLeaks release, shone a spotlight on tax havens and enforcement co-operation among tax authorities. Two recent WTO dispute settlement panel decisions involving Panama are particularly important in light of the recent threats by the G20 and the European Union to sanction tax havens after the Panama Papers scandal. The first case involves a challenge by Panama to certain Argentinian “defensive” measures on financial services and service providers from certain jurisdictions that do not cooperate or agree to information sharing in tax  enforcement. The WTO Appellate Body circulated its decision on April 15th. The second cases involves a challenge by Panama to a compound tariff imposed on textile goods by Columbia to counter alleged money laundering. The WTO Appellate Body decision in this dispute is pending.

As counsel at the OECD Trade Directorate, Mr. Warner advised on harmful tax competition issues and previously worked on other trade and competition issues. Mr. Warner was Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade participated in the Canada-European Union Trade Agreement (CETA) negotiations including the chapters on investment and trade in services. Mr. Warner advises governments and business clients on trade policy, trade disputes and trade negotiations.