Archive for the 'Competition Bureau' Category
October 19, 2014
In an important decision released on October 17, 2014, Imperial Oil v. Jacques, 2014 SCC 66, the Canadian Supreme Court confirmed plaintiffs’ ability to obtain disclosure of wiretap evidence obtained in connection with criminal competition law investigations.
October 18, 2014
I am pleased to be a guest speaker at the Canadian Society of Association Executives’ (CSAE) National Conference 2014 in Niagara Falls this fall (October 29-31). I will be co-presenting with Mark Katz of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg, the co-author of our competition law and associations book. Below is an overview of our seminar.
October 15, 2014
Guest post by Steven J. Cernak, Schiff Hardin LLP
Reprinted with permission
On October 14, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners v. FTC, the latest in its long line of cases interpreting the state action exemption to the antitrust laws. Clients who participate on or interact with such boards should be interested in the result of this case.
September 24, 2014
Canada’s Competition Bureau (the “Bureau”) has been working over the past year or two to update its competition law compliance guidelines and policies. Competition law compliance has also figured prominently in recent remarks by Canada’s new Commissioner of Competition, John Pecman (see for example: here). As part of the Bureau’s initiative to raise competition compliance awareness, on September 18th the Bureau issued a revised draft Corporate Compliance Programs Bulletin for public comment (see: here and here).
September 23, 2014
With a major bid-rigging trial commencing in Ottawa in the IT sector, ongoing auto parts bid-rigging/cartel investigations including record $5 million and $30 million bid-rigging fines in Canada (see e.g., here) and the Charbonneau Commission competition/corruption probe wrapping up in Quebec, it is increasingly important for bidders and tendering authorities to understand the basics of Canadian bid-rigging law. For governments and tendering authorities it is also important to enhance their abililties to detect coordinated bids and tenders. In this respect, I thought I would update my Canadian bid-rigging law page and add, among other things, a few key tips for tendering authorities to detect bid-rigging (see bottom of post).
September 21, 2014
Most association activities are legitimate and unlikely to raise competition law concerns. However, given that many, if not most, trade and professional association activities involve the direct interaction of competitors, it is prudent for association executives, staff and their advisors to take practical steps to reduce potential competition law risk.
September 10, 2014
An interesting new Cardus report released yesterday (authored by Stephen W. Bauld and Brian Dijkema), entitled Hiding in Plain Sight: Evaluating Closed Tendering in Construction Markets, argues against closed tendering in public construction procurement. The report also includes discussions of recent Charbonneau Commission developments, construction unions and purported arguments for closed tendering in public procurement (such as for “safety” or “qualification” reasons). One of the central conclusions of the report is that local rules that limit competitive tendering are diametrically opposed to the key principles of public procurement: openness, fairness and transparency. Well worth a read (abstract below with a link to the complete report).
September 8, 2014
In an interesting case that caught my eye earlier today, the U.S. FTC announced a proposed settlement with Texas-based Applied Food Sciences Inc. (AFS) in relation to allegedly “baseless” green coffee extract weight loss claims.
Templates/precedents and checklists to run promotional contests in Canada
Templates/precedents and checklists to comply with Canadian anti-spam law (CASL)
