Archive for the 'Amendments' Category
CANADIAN CASL (ANTI-SPAM LAW) PRECEDENTS
Do you need a precedent or checklist
to comply with CASL (Canadian anti-spam law)?
We offer Canadian anti-spam law (CASL) precedents and checklists to help electronic marketers comply with CASL. These include checklists and precedents for express consent requests (including on behalf of third parties), sender identification information, unsubscribe mechanisms, business related exemptions and types of implied consent and documenting consent and scrubbing distribution lists. We also offer a CASL corporate compliance program. For more information or to order, see: Anti-Spam (CASL) Precedents/Forms. If you would like to discuss CASL legal advice or for other advertising or marketing in Canada, including contests/sweepstakes, contact us: contact.
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In December 2010 Canada’s new anti-spam legislation was passed (the “Anti-spam Act”) which will, when it comes into force, be one of the strictest anti-spam regimes in the world (see: Anti-spam Act). In general, the Anti-spam Act will require express or implied consent for the sending of “commercial electronic messages” or “CEMs” and also impose form (i.e., disclosure) and unsubscribe requirements for CEMs.
We have been seeing an increase lately in penalties imposed in competition cases against individuals in Canada. A number of commentators have also recently noted this shift in enforcement by the Competition Bureau and some Canadian courts.
As a result of this trend, I thought I’d post a short note highlighting some of the recent statements by the Bureau, legislative developments and penalties imposed in one particularly noteworthy case – the ongoing Quebec gasoline price-fixing cartel case (the largest criminal investigation in the Bureau’s history).
For example, the Commissioner of Competition recently indicated that the Bureau had a stronger appetite to pursue penalties against individuals:
“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” (see: Keynote Speech at the Canadian Bar Association 2011 Fall Conference).
On February 17, 2012, the Competition Bureau announced that Construction G.T.R.L. (1990) Inc., Acoustique JCG Inc. and Enterprises de Construction OPC Inc. pleaded guilty to bid-rigging in Quebec Superior Court in a case relating to the expansion of the Chicoutimi Hospital in 2003 (see: Quebec Construction Companies Plead Guilty to Rigging Bids for the Chicoutimi Hospital).
In making the announcement, the Bureau said:
“The court ordered Construction G.T.R.L. to pay a fine of $50,000, and Acoustique JCG and Entreprises de Construction OPC to pay a fine of $25,000 each. The companies are subject to a court order for a period of 10 years.
‘Bid-rigging harms everyone but the criminals who cheat the system for their own financial gain,’ said Melanie Aitken, Commissioner of Competition. ‘In this case, the bid-rigging scheme ultimately harmed the Chicoutimi Hospital and Saguenay residents, by preventing the hospital from obtaining a competitive price for its renovation.’”
The construction industry has long been a target of competition/antitrust regulators. For example, some of the construction related cases in Canada, many of which have also involved trade associations and have gone back about a century, have included building contractors, corrugated metal pipe manufacturers, electrical contractors, gypsum dealers and manufacturers, plumbing contractors, road surfacing contractors, chain link fence contractors, among many others.
On January 6, 2012 the Competition Bureau announced its first cartel case under Canada’s amended Competition Act (partially brought under the new section 45 of the Competition Act).
In this case, two companies pleaded guilty of fixing the price of polyurethane foam and were fined a total of C $12.5 million (see: Cartels Update: Bureau Announces $12.5 Million Fine in First Price-fixing Case Under Amended Competition Act and Competition Bureau Sends Signal to Price-Fixers with $12.5 Million Fine).
In making the announcement, believed to be one of a number of new cartel cases currently being investigated, the Bureau said:
“’Yesterday’s guilty plea is the first conviction under Canada’s amended conspiracy law,’ said Melanie Aitken, Commissioner of Competition. ‘This investigation highlights the Bureau’s reinvigorated mandate to stop consumer harm caused by price-fixing, and to secure significant fines for these serious criminal offences.’
The charges are the first to arise from the Bureau’s investigation into price-fixing cartel in the polyurethane foam industry. Anyone with information relating to this investigation is encouraged to contact the Competition Bureau.
The Bureau’s investigation benefitted from cooperation under the Bureau’s Immunity and Leniency Programs, which create incentives for parties to address their criminal liability by cooperating with the Bureau in its ongoing investigation and prosecution of other alleged cartel participants.
Under the Competition Act, an agreement between competitors to fix prices, allocate markets or restrict output in Canada is a criminal offence. In March 2010, amendments to the conspiracy provision of the Act came into force.”
The Bureau also recently confirmed that it is investigating potential effects in Canada from the alleged global LIBOR-TIBOR bank cartel (see: Cartel Update: Competition Bureau Investigates Alleged Interbank Lending Rate Coordination), that it continues to receive guilty pleas in the Quebec gasoline price-fixing case, which was the largest such investigation in the Bureau’s history (see: Cartels Update: Seven More Individuals Plead Guilty in Criminal Quebec Gasoline Price-fixing Cartel) and that it remains focused on both maintaining and increasing its cooperation with global enforcement agencies in the detection and enforcement of cartels.
Last week, the Competition Bureau announced that Construction G.T.R.L. (1990) Inc., Acoustique JCG Inc. and Enterprises de Construction OPC Inc. pleaded guilty to bid-rigging in Quebec Superior Court in relation to the expansion of the Chicoutimi Hospital in 2003 (see: Quebec Construction Companies Plead Guilty to Rigging Bids for the Chicoutimi Hospital).
In making this announcement, the Bureau said:
“The court ordered Construction G.T.R.L. to pay a fine of $50,000, and Acoustique JCG and Entreprises de Construction OPC to pay a fine of $25,000 each. The companies are subject to a court order for a period of 10 years.
‘Bid-rigging harms everyone but the criminals who cheat the system for their own financial gain,’ said Melanie Aitken, Commissioner of Competition. ‘In this case, the bid-rigging scheme ultimately harmed the Chicoutimi Hospital and Saguenay residents, by preventing the hospital from obtaining a competitive price for its renovation.’”
The construction industry has long been a target of competition/antitrust regulators. For example, some of the construction related cases in Canada, many of which have also involved trade associations (and have gone back about a century), have included building contractors, corrugated metal pipe manufacturers, electrical contractors, gypsum dealers and manufacturers, plumbing contractors, among many others.
There have also been a number of recent bid-rigging cases in Canada, many of which have involved construction and construction supply related companies.
For example, see: Guilty Plea and $425,000 Fine for Bid-rigging in Montreal, Charges Laid in Residential Construction Bid-rigging Scheme in Montreal, Competition Bureau Exposes Sewer Services Cartel in Quebec, Competition Bureau Obtains Court Order Against the Saskatchewan Roofing Contractors Association.
CANADIAN CASL (ANTI-SPAM LAW) PRECEDENTS
Do you need a precedent or checklist
to comply with CASL (Canadian anti-spam law)?
We offer Canadian anti-spam law (CASL) precedents and checklists to help electronic marketers comply with CASL. These include checklists and precedents for express consent requests (including on behalf of third parties), sender identification information, unsubscribe mechanisms, business related exemptions and types of implied consent and documenting consent and scrubbing distribution lists. We also offer a CASL corporate compliance program. For more information or to order, see: Anti-Spam (CASL) Precedents/Forms. If you would like to discuss CASL legal advice or for other advertising or marketing in Canada, including contests/sweepstakes, contact us: contact.
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February 19, 2012
In December 2010 Canada’s new anti-spam legislation was passed (the “Anti-spam Act”) which will, when it comes into force, be one of the strictest anti-spam regimes in the world (see: Anti-spam Act). Canada had been criticized prior to its passage as being the only G8 nation without stand-alone anti-spam legislation. In general, the Anti-spam Act will require express or implied consent for the sending of “commercial electronic messages” and will also impose certain form (i.e., disclosure) and opt-out (i.e., unsubscribe) requirements.
The CBC reported last week that a Montreal-based telemarketing company, which has been accused of defrauding thousands of small businesses in relation to an alleged invoice scheme for never ordered office supplies, is still making calls (see: Montreal Telemarketers in Fraud Case Still Making Calls).
According to the CBC:
“Express Transaction Services Inc. (ETS) and some affiliated companies face several charges under the federal Competition Act and Criminal Code, following an investigation and police raids at its Montreal facilities in 2007.
In fall 2011, the company was charged with fraud and violation under the federal Competition Act.
Several individuals linked to the companies also face charges of deceptive telemarketing and misleading representations under the Competition Act, and criminal fraud charges.
The Competition Bureau said ETS purposely sent out products to businesses even if they were never ordered. ETS then had its call centre make repeated phone calls to retrieve payment.
According to the bureau, the scheme made more than $170 million between 2001 and 2007. The federal Anti-Fraud Centre said thousands of victims were affected.
CBC News has learned that ETS continues to operate out of its Montreal offices, and small businesses across Canada are still receiving phone calls from the company.”
TELEMARKETING LAWS IN CANADA
COMPETITION ACT
The federal Competition Act makes it criminal offences to engage in deceptive telemarketing or to engage in telemarketing unless certain disclosure under the Competition Act is made.
Canada’s contribution to the 11th OECD Global Forum on Competition, held last week in Paris, is now available online: Improving International Co-operation in Cartel Investigations – Global Forum on Competition – Contribution from Canada
Overview
The Global Forum on Competition included discussions on:
Commodities and price volatility:
“This full day session will start with an overview of recent price volatility; discuss its causes and present recent OECD work. Substantive discussions will draw on expert analysis and on the experiences of competition authorities. The day will culminate in a distillation of practical suggestions for competition authorities when faced with issues in these markets.”
Improving international co-operation in cartel investigations:
“This session will examine how the existing frameworks for international cooperation in cartel investigations could be modified or improved. The roundtable will also explore how international co-operation works in other fields, such as bribery, tax and money laundering, to see if any practices can be extrapolated to cartel enforcement.”
State-owned enterprises and competitive neutrality:
“This session will allow participants to hear the preliminary findings of the Report on Competitive Neutrality which is under preparation by the OECD as well as to present country experiences with competitive distortions resulting from an uneven playing field in markets where public undertakings co-exist with private competitors.”
Speeches included remarks by Pascal Lamy (WTO Director General), Otaviano Canuto (World Bank Vice-President), Angel Gurria (OECD Secretary-General) and Frederic Jenny (Chairman of the OECD Competition Committee).
Templates/precedents and checklists to run promotional contests in Canada
Templates/precedents and checklists to comply with Canadian anti-spam law (CASL)
