Archive for the 'Competition Bureau' Category
February 4, 2014
In an interesting and important development, Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal yesterday sent the Competition Bureau’s (the “Bureau”) abuse of dominance challenge against Canada’s largest real estate board back to the Competition Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) for redetermination. This case is in many ways the first decided essential facilities case in Canada under the Competition Act (the “Act”), though remains to be decided on its facts when it returns to the Tribunal.
January 29, 2014
Jarod Bona over at The Antitrust Attorney Blog has written a very good new note on competition law compliance and real estate services, and in particular some commonsense steps that real estate salespeople can take to avoid competition law risk. Given that many of the points discussed, including the importance of independently setting commissions, determining where to work (and for whom), the submission of bids (e.g., in the real estate foreclosure auction context) and dealing with competitors, apply equally in Canada, I thought I would reprint his note here (with permission).
January 29, 2014
The National Competition Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association has issued a call for papers for this year’s James H. Bocking Memorial Award. This annual award is presented for the best scholarly paper by a full time student or young lawyer (within the first three years of call) submitted to the Competition Law Section on a topic relating to Canadian competition law and policy.
January 29, 2014
On my daily media sweep earlier today, I came across what I thought was a very good new discussion of competition law and associations, including overviews of some of the more interesting and important recent U.S. cases. This new note by the U.S. firm Arent Fox, entitled Lessons for Associations From 2013 Antitrust Activities, discusses, among other things, the recent and ongoing Music Teachers National Association, American Quarter Horse Association and North Carolina “teeth whitening” cases (involving antitrust issues arising from membership rules, codes of ethics, standard setting, the application of the U.S. “state action immunity” doctrine, the U.S. parallel to the Canadian “regulated conduct defence”, and information sharing between association members).
January 28, 2014
I work on many competition compliance programs and with a variety of organizations ranging from corporations to trade and professional associations. Questions that often arise in the context of compliance include “what is required” and “what is effective”? In Canada, competition law compliance programs are not legislatively required under the Competition Act but the federal Competition Bureau (Canada’s competition law regulator) recommends that organizations adopt compliance programs and include five essential elements. In practice, effective compliance strategies can range from full programs (with a compliance manual, slide presentation, compliance policy and periodic training and education) to the adoption and use of compliance guidelines for key (and potentially high risk) activities.
Steve Szentesi
Kevin Wright (Davis LLP)
Extract from a chapter to be published in CLEBC
Annual Review of Law & Practice – 2014
The following is our final competition law installment from our forthcoming chapter in CLEBC’s Annual Review of Law & Practice – 2014. For the first four posts (misleading advertising, mergers and Investment Canada Act, civil and criminal matters, and private actions) see: here, here, here and here.
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: steve@szentesilaw.com
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Five months or so to go until Canada’s new anti-spam legislation (CASL) will largely come into force. Generally speaking, the new law will require advance, express opt-in consent for commercial electronic messages sent to or received by Canadian computers, including inbound marketing by U.S. and international marketers, unless an exception or category of implied consent applies.
January 22, 2014
A new C.D. Howe Institute report, entitled “Full Throttle: Reforming Canada’s Aviation Policy”, looks at ways to lower the cost of air travel in Canada and make the Canadian airline industry more competitive.
Templates/precedents and checklists to run promotional contests in Canada
Templates/precedents and checklists to comply with Canadian anti-spam law (CASL)
