Enabling Compliance Overview

Enabling Compliance

MACD enables compliance by the provision of services that provide information to market participants and the IESO to foster compliance on a forward looking basis. These enabling services include providing, upon request or on its own initiative, compliance and enforcement guidance for specific market rules.

Enabling Compliance Overview

Complementing its enforcement role, MACD aims to facilitate a better understanding of the requirements of the market rules so that entities who are subject to the rules may take actions towards being compliant. It does so by providing information and guidance to market participants and the IESO for this purpose, thereby enabling the compliance objective. Compliance with the market rules and reliability standards supports the efficient and reliable operation of the electricity market and power system. Examples of these initiatives are described below.

Compliance and Enforcement Guidance: MACD may, upon request or on its own initiative, provide compliance and enforcement guidance with respect to specific provisions of the market rules and manuals. This guidance represents, on a forward looking basis, MACD’s view as to the meaning of that specific provision and its potential application to compliance and other enforcement determinations. There are three types of compliance and enforcement guidance that MACD can provide:

Rule Interpretations
Application and Compliance Guidance
Enforcement Guidance

Definitions of these types of guidance can be found on the Compliance and Enforcement Guidance webpage.

Internal Compliance Programs: To assist market participants in the development of effective internal compliance programs (ICPs), MACD provides its views on ICPs in an enforcement context. A good ICP can mitigate financial penalties when there is a determination of non-compliance. These views identify the processes, people infrastructure, technology and organizational activities generally essential to achieving compliance with the market rules.

Technical Feasibility Exceptions: Temporary exceptions to strict compliances with the terms of certain NERC Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Reliability Standards on grounds of technical feasibility or technical limitations are referred to as “Technical Feasibility Exceptions” or “TFEs”. MACD has the authority to asses, approve or disapprove TFE applications.

Reliability Standards Auditing: MACD is accountable for monitoring and enforcing compliance with reliability standards. To enable compliance with reliability standards, MACD conducts audits of market participants in order to determine if the participant is able to demonstrate compliance with reliability standards.