Amendments to the CTA enacted in 2008 have created a new complaint process before the Agency that permits shippers to challenge charges and associated terms and conditions for the movement of traffic or for the provision of incidental services. This remedy is available only in relation to charges, terms and conditions that are contained in a tariff which applies to more than one shipper.

The process is commenced by a written complaint to the Agency. The railway company is required to respond in writing to the complaint, and the Agency may require further information to be exchanged and may hold an oral hearing in order to investigate the matter. A decision will normally be rendered within 120 days. Depending on the specific charges, terms or conditions being challenged, and the breadth or potential breadth of their application to other shippers, complaints under the new provision may well prompt other shippers to intervene.

Since the CTA does not define the terms “charge” or “charge for the movement of traffic” the scope of this remedy and its potential overlap with the types of disputes that may be submitted to FOA ("rates for the movement of goods") remains to be determined. A railway company may object to an Agency proceeding in respect of the reasonableness of a charge, on the basis that the charge complained of is a proper subject for an FOA but not for a complaint before the Agency or vice versa. Subject to the Agency's ruling on such preliminary objections in any specific complaint, this remedy will likely offer shippers recourse against unreasonable charges and rules relating to demurrage, weighing, improper loading or unloading (i.e., failure to release cars in a clean state), overloaded cars and improper shipping documentation, to name only a few.

In order to grant relief under the new provision, the Agency must find that the charges or associated terms and conditions are unreasonable. In making that determination, the Agency is required to take into account the following factors:

• the objective of the charges or associated terms and conditions [e.g. discouraging shippers from overloading railway cars]
• the industry practice in setting the charges or associated terms and conditions
• in the case of a complaint relating to the provision of any incidental service, the existence of an effective, adequate and competitive alternative to the provision of that service [e.g., warehousing; weighing].

In addition, the Agency may consider any other factor that it considers relevant.

The Agency has the power to establish new charges or associated terms and conditions if it finds that those published by the railway company are unreasonable. Any charges or associated terms and conditions established by the Agency, however, must be commercially fair and reasonable to the shippers who are subject to them, including shippers who may not have participated in the proceeding, as well as to the railway company that issued the tariff containing them. The Agency will specify how long its order remains in effect, but this may not be longer than one year.