Archive for February, 2014
February 18, 2014
Earlier today, the Competition Bureau announced Its most recent new competition advocacy initiative, relating to the regulation of the Toronto taxi industry (see: Competition Bureau Provides Submission to City of Toronto’s Taxicab Industry Review). The Bureau also issued a companion Submission by the Commissioner of Competition to the City of Toronto Taxicab Industry Review.
The key recommendations made in the Bureau’s newest competition advocacy initiative include Issuing new taxi licenses in Toronto and amending regulations to allow new cost-savings software applications to pay for motor vehicle transport services.
February 18, 2014
Earlier today, the German antitrust authority (Bundeskartellamt) announced that it had fined Germany’s three largest sugar manufacturers € 280 million in a market division / output restriction cartel case (see: Bundeskartellamt Imposes Fines on Sugar Manufacturers). According to the Bundeskartellamt, the infringements related to an agreement among the three manufacturers over about a fifteen-year period to limit German sugar sales to their respective home sales areas and export sugar rather than sell to customers within competitors’ sales areas.
February 18, 2014
A lot of advertising law, both in Canada and other major jurisdictions, tends to revolve around two major themes: deception and ownership. As such, when it comes to reviewing advertising for compliance in Canada, a lot of issues (or potential issues) can be identified with two main questions: first, “is it true” (i.e., false or misleading)?; and second, “do we own it”?
February 17, 2014
Want your say in the ongoing Quebec competition/corruption law probe? The Charbonneau Commission has issued a call for public input on “stopping corruption” in Quebec. According to media releases earlier today (see e.g.: Charbonneau Commission calls for public input on halting corruption), public commentators have until June 20, 2014 and may send submit suggestions via the Charbonneau Inquiry’s website (see: here).
February 17, 2014
Helping their clients understand (and take steps to avoid) competition/antitrust law cartels is top of the list for outside and in-house competition counsel. The detection and enforcement of competition law cartels has also continued to receive increased enforcement attention in the past few years, both in Canada over the terms of the last two Commissioners of competition, as well as international antitrust agencies, notably in the EU and U.S.
February 16, 2014
When I deliver competition compliance seminars and talk to industry groups, I often discuss the fact that imprisonment is one possible criminal penalty under the Competition Act (though is, somewhat curiously, more commonly imposed for deceptive advertising than for price-fixing or other criminal competition law conduct). While that may soon change with the recent elimination of conditional sentences for cartel offences (e.g., price-fixing and other per se illegal agreements between competitors) and bid-rigging, several days ago the Competition Bureau announced that a Canadian court has once again imposed a prison sentence for misleading advertising.
February 16, 2014
A New Zealand association related case announced a few days ago is a recent reminder that voluntary industry associations are not price regulators (see: Commission issues warning over “no discounting” clause). While there can sometimes be a temptation for trade associations and their leadership to get involved in the competitive activities of their members, and pressure from members to do so, such as relating to prices, services, customers and markets, this recent enforcement by the New Zealand Commerce Commission (“ComCom”) illustrates the potential competition/antitrust law risk of doing so.
February 13, 2014
Mark Warner over at Maaw Law has given a very good and reasoned interview earlier today on the competition and trade aspects of the Canadian federal government’s proposal to take steps to equalize prices between the U.S. and Canada for Canadian consumers. I thought this interview set out quite well the various competing issues in this new federal initiative (though I myself remain a bit skeptical regarding the workability of the proposal, and remained concerned about potential deterrence to foreign investment in Canada and whether this is in essence price regulation). For this quite good interview see: Canadian Budget 2014: What’s In It For Consumers.
Templates/precedents and checklists to run promotional contests in Canada
Templates/precedents and checklists to comply with Canadian anti-spam law (CASL)
