The Canadian Court of Appeal ruled that the Ontario Securities Commission's request for access to Binance's documents was "excessively broad" and unconstitutional.

Odaily Planet Daily reports that the Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled in the case of "Binance Holdings Limited v. Ontario Securities Commission (OSC)" to dismiss the OSC's massive request for access to documents against Binance, finding it "shockingly broad" and violating Article 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.

The court noted that while capital market participants have lower privacy expectations in regulated activities, they are still protected by the Charter. OSC had previously requested Binance to submit "all internal and related-party communications involving Canada over a two-and-a-half-year period," a request the court deemed to exceed reasonable regulatory objectives.

The judgment emphasizes that while regulatory investigations can be conducted even without evidence of wrongdoing, they must still be limited to "the categories of documents reasonably relevant to the purpose of the investigation," otherwise they can be dismissed by the court.

In addition, the court commented on Binance's use of encrypted communication tools such as Signal that "automatically delete messages," stating that the mere use of such technology was insufficient to presume an intention to "circumvent regulation," providing important clarification regarding the use of privacy communication software by financial institutions.

This ruling is seen as establishing the boundaries of Canada's securities regulatory power and reminding companies that they can assert their privacy and due process rights under the Charter when faced with cross-border or overly broad investigative requests.