Supplementary State party’s submissions business in the language of their choice, and have been personally affected by the restrictions at issue. They refer to trial testimony identifying the personal aspect of the advertising in the present case. Finally, the authors argue that if this ground of inadmissibility were to be accepted, it would exclude almost all commercial expression from Covenant protection, as most people engaged in trade do so through the vehicle of a corporation. 6.1 By Note of 24 August 2004, the State party reiterated its submissions of admissibility, pointing out in particular that the current authors were not involved in the domestic proceedings, their corporation being the only party. The Committee has consistently decided that only individuals can submit a communication, and the inadmissibility of the communication does not have an impact on the scope of article 19’s protection of commercial speech. 5.2 Secondly, as to domestic remedies, the authors reject the State party’s submissions. They argue that the remarks of the Supreme Court of Canada in Ford and Devine to the effect that that French “marked predominance” requirement was justified in Charter terms were entirely based on considerations relating to the vulnerability of the French language and the visage linguistique of Québec. In the authors’ view, these considerations did not meet the cumulative requirements of article 19, paragraph 3, and are thus in violation of the Covenant. 6.2 The State party emphasizes that the Superior Court invited counsel for the corporation to add to his evidence if he wished to do so in the context of a new trial. He declined to do so, preferring instead to obtain a judgment that he could appeal. After having declined the Superior Court’s invitation, he again sought to add evidence before the Court of Appeal, which denied the application on behalf as the new evidence was not related to the judicial debate framed by the corporation itself in the lower courts and on appeal. The authors cannot before the Committee seek to review the strategic decisions of counsel to limit evidence and narrowly define the issues in the domestic courts. 5.3 The authors argue that they did not refuse to introduce new evidence on the vulnerability of the French language and the visage linguistique of Québec to the Superior Court, on first appeal. Before the Superior Court, they stated that they would prefer to introduce such new evidence before him, rather than at a new trial. They contend the Superior Court misinterpreted this statement to mean a renunciation to provide any evidence at all, even before him. They point out, moreover, that in Ford and Devine, the Québec Government supplied evidence on the vulnerability of the French language for the first time at the level of the Supreme Court of Canada. 6.3 The State party argues that it is clear that the authors mainly seek to challenge before the Committee a question of burden of proof in Canadian law. That issue has already been resolved before the domestic courts, who are currently examining the separate question of the constitutionality of section 58 of the Charter of the French language with its “marked predominance” requirement. 5.4 The authors point out that they filed extensive evidence not before the Supreme Court in Ford and Devine, including documentation relating to Canada’s Covenant obligations, the submissions of the parties and the Committee’s decisions in McIntyre and Singer and State practice in the area. They argue that the Superior Court judgment, upheld on appeal, had the effect of imposing a burden on an accused (to supply certain evidence) without allowing the accused to meet that burden, in violation of article 14. The fact, moreover, that other proceedings are challenging the “marked predominance” requirement does not change the fact that the present authors have exhausted available domestic remedies for their convictions. Issues and proceedings before the Committee 7.1 Before considering any claim contained in a communication, the Human Rights Committee must, in accordance with rule 93 of its rules of procedure, decide whether or not the communication is admissible under the Optional Protocol to the Covenant. 7.2 The Committee observes, on the issue of exhaustion of domestic remedies, that the authors’ corporation, at the level of the Superior Court, expressly declined the Court’s invitation to tender evidence going to the alleged insufficiency of justification of section 58 of the Charter of the French Language, being evidence not before the Supreme Court of Canada at the time it had suggested that a “marked predominance” requirement for French was acceptable. Instead, the corporation was content to argue the issue on burden of proof only. The Court of Appeal, for its part, rejected the corporation’s application to file additional evidence on the basis that it was beyond 5.5 Thirdly, the authors argue that they have more than sufficiently supported their allegations, more than sufficiently identified the rights protected under the Covenant, and more than sufficiently described the conduct in violation of those rights. The communication should thus be declared admissible. 49