Canadian COMPETITION LAW

Bill C-10, the Safe Streets and Communities Act, has received Royal Assent (see: Bill C-10 – Status of Bill).

Among other things, Bill C-10 amends the current section 742.1 of the Criminal Code to provide that where a person is convicted of an offence and the court imposes a sentence of less than two years, the court may impose a conditional sentence (i.e., order the sentence to be served in the community), except in certain circumstances.

One such circumstance is where an offence is an indictable offence, for which the maximum term of imprisonment is 14 years or life.

A number of provisions of the Competition Act are subject to a maximum term of imprisonment of 14 years, including sections 45 (criminal conspiracy agreements between competitors) and 47 (bid-rigging agreements).

Conditional sentences have also been ordered in several recent Canadian price-fixing cases, including the ongoing Quebec gasoline price-fixing cartel (see e.g.: Cartels Update: Seven More Individuals Plead Guilty in Criminal Quebec Gasoline Price-fixing Cartel).

The Commissioner of Competition has also recently expressed a desire to increasingly pursue penalties against individuals.  For example, in a speech last fall, the Commissioner said:

“In both cartel and bid–rigging cases, we will be appropriately aggressive when dealing with individuals. To date, 38 individuals have been charged in the Quebec Octane case, and last December, five individuals were accused of rigging bids for private sector contracts in residential highrise buildings in the Montreal area.”

For media reports on the new criminal law see: Tories’ crime bill clears Parliament, Omnibus crime bill C-10 passed; a Conservative election promise kept, Why crime bill should be concern for business.

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