The Canadian federal government was poised to regulate the commercial practices of credit and debit card networks if they did not adopt the "Code of Conduct for the Credit and Debit Card Industry in Canada" (the "Code") voluntarily by May 17, 2010. As a result all major crdit and debtio card issuers, acquirers and payment networks adopted the Code. The final form of the Code was announced by Canada's Minister of Finance, Jim Flaherty on April 16, 2010 together with a warning that regulation would follow if necessary.