Archive for the 'Events' Category
The Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association will be holding a teleconference on February 28, 2012 entitled “Antitrust Update for In-House Counsel” from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
From the ABA:
“Join the Corporate Counseling Committee for its monthly Antitrust Update for In-House Counsel, a telephonic committee program to be held on Tuesday, February 28 from Noon to 1pm ET.
This program, which will cover developments occurring during the month of September, continues our popular monthly series of committee programs in which antitrust practitioners report on the most recent developments at the agencies and the courts. The program will last approximately one hour, including a Q&A period at the end.”
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The Maple Group Acquisition Corporation (“Maple”) announced earlier today that it would extend its offer once again to acquire the TMX Group.
In making the announcement, Maple said:
“Maple and TMX Group are committed to the transaction and are working diligently to obtain the required regulatory approvals. To this end, they are in ongoing discussions with the regulators and have made numerous submissions to them, including a proposed CDS pricing model, and have proposed remedies to address concerns regarding equities trading.
As previously disclosed, under the Support Agreement between Maple and TMX Group, Maple has agreed to use commercially reasonable efforts to obtain all required regulatory approvals, including from the securities regulatory authorities and the Commissioner of Competition, and to accept all conditions, commitments and undertakings necessary to do so, provided they do not result in a “Material Detriment” as defined in the Support Agreement. Maple is continuing to seek to resolve outstanding issues and concerns raised by the securities regulatory authorities and the Competition Bureau. However, there can be no assurance that remedies short of a Material Detriment will address the issues and concerns raised by the securities regulatory authorities and the Commissioner or that the required regulatory approvals will be obtained.
Details of Maple’s offer are available in its Offer and Circular dated June 10, 2011, as varied by the Notice of Variation dated June 24, 2011, the Notice of Change and Extension dated August 8, 2011, the Notice of Extension dated September 29, 2011, the Notice of Variation and Extension dated October 31, 2011, the Notice of Extension dated January 31, 2012 and a further Notice of Extension to be filed by Maple on SEDAR and mailed to TMX Group’s shareholders in respect of the current extension of the offer. These documents are also available at www.abetterexchange.com.”
The National Competition Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association will be holding a teleconference on February 29, 2012 entitled: “Criminal Conspiracy or Legitimate Competitor Collaboration? Tips for In-House Counsel”
From the Canadian Bar Association:
“Authorities have recently noted their first conviction under Canada’s amended conspiracy law, commenting: “[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.”
In-house counsel practising competition law are often asked to evaluate the competition law risks associated with activities such as joint selling initiatives, joint ventures, buying groups, participation in trade associations, and merger transactions. As such, in-house counsel are an organization’s first line of defence to identify potential illegal arrangements to fix prices, allocate markets or restrict output, that create risks of criminal investigation and prosecution; and that can result in significant fines, imprisonment, damage to an organization’s reputation, and civil damage claims.
The line between criminal conspiracies and pro-competitive strategic alliances among competitors, however, can at times be difficult to detect. It is critical that in-house counsel have the tools necessary to distinguish benign or pro-competitive activity from potentially criminal conduct.”
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).
The Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada (IAB) will be holding a series of marketing courses across Canada in March and April 2012:
The Institute of Competition Law has launched the Antitrust Writing Awards 2012.
From the Institute of Competition Law:
“The Antitrust Writing Awards’ goal is to promote antitrust scholarship and competition advocacy by recognizing and awarding the best articles published in the antitrust law and law & economics fields in the last 12 months. The Awards feature two different categories of articles: Academic and Business. The Academic Articles category comprises articles published in academic journals, whereas the Business Articles category features articles published in professional magazines or newsletters. The articles are selected by a jury and by readers. The jury consist of a Board, an Academic and a Business Steering Committees composed of the leading academics and counsel. Readers contribute to the selection process by voting for articles. The Institute of Competition Law – the publisher of the Journal Concurrences and the e-Competitions Bulletin – and George Washington University Law School, are organizing these first of their kind Antitrust Writing Awards with the support of partners. The Awards ceremony will take place in Washington DC on 27 March 2012.”
Canadian Marketing Association – 2012 CMA Summit
MAY 16 – 17 2012
The Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) will be holding its 2012 Summit entitled Connections: Listen, Engage, Measure in Toronto from May 16 – 17 2012.
From the CMA:
“Marketing is about connecting. Connecting with consumers, connecting with customers, connecting with each other. The CMA Summit 2012 (formerly the CMA National Convention) is all about Connections. How these connections are made, maintained and measured.
Learn from world-class speakders (keynote and workshop), visionaries, tactical experts, leading-edge strategists and marketing miracle workers who will help you find your way in an ever-changing business environment. Give yourself the greatest advantage over your competitors knowledge!
Network with the who’s who of the marketing world. Make important business connections with clients, suppliers, competitors and peers. This summit brings the marketing world together in one convenient place!”
For more see:
Connections: Listen, Engage, Measure
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For more information about our regulatory law services contact: contact
For more regulatory law updates follow us on Twitter: @CanadaAttorney
The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Globe and Mail and others have reported that the Competition Bureau (the “Bureau”) is investigating alleged price-fixing in the setting of interbank lending rates.
Interbank rates include the London interbank offered rate (“LIBOR”), Tokyo interbank offered rate (“TIBOR”) and euro interbank offered rate (“Euribor”).
The essence of the allegations in this ongoing and global case appears to be whether, if true, the fixing of interbank rates adversely affected the price of derivative and other financial products (such as credit default swaps, mortgages, etc.).
Templates/precedents and checklists to run promotional contests in Canada
Templates/precedents and checklists to comply with Canadian anti-spam law (CASL)
