Archive for the 'Immunity Program' Category
August 16, 2010
What is the scope of Canada’s new conspiracy regime?
Canada now has three new criminal conspiracy offences for “hard core” cartel conduct, making bare price fixing, market allocation and supply restriction agreements per se illegal – i.e., without the necessity of establishing any anti-competitive effects on a relevant market (or markets). At the same time, a second civil provision has come into force under which other commercial agreements (i.e., agreements that do not fall within the scope of the new criminal offences) may be subject to review, where they prevent or lessen competition substantially.
July 15, 2010
The Competition Bureau announced today that yet more criminal charges have been laid in the ongoing Quebec gasoline price-fixing case against twenty-five individuals and three companies. The accused are alleged to have fixed the price of gasoline at the pump in several regions of Quebec including Victoriaville, Thetford Mines and Sherbrooke.
June 26, 2010
“A [compliance] program also plays a crucial role for trade associations because trade associations face unique compliance issues. Given that an association provides a forum where competitors collaborate on association activities, trade associations are exposed to greater risks of anti-competitive conduct. A number of past Bureau cases have involved trade associations that were engaged in agreements to harm competition. It is therefore critical that trade associations implement credible and effective programs with strict codes of ethics and conduct. Such programs may allow trade associations and its members to avoid improper actions and to protect themselves from being used as a conduit for illegal activities. They may also allow trade association members to fully benefit from the association’s activities while reducing the potential for inadvertent contraventions of the Acts.” (Competition Bureau, Corporate Compliance Programs Information Bulletin)
April 15, 2010
Overview
New criminal conspiracy provisions recently came into force in Canada, in March, 2010, as a result of sweeping amendments to the Competition Act (the “Act”) last year.
December 15, 2009
As a result of recent landmark amendments to the federal Competition Act (the “Act”), the impact of competition law on trade associations in Canada is now much more significant. This article discusses some of the highlights of Canada’s new competition law and the impacts of the new criminal conspiracy provisions that will come into force in March, 2010.
September 17, 2009
ASSOCIATIONS & COMPETITION LAW
“A [compliance] program also plays a crucial role for trade associations because trade associations face unique compliance issues. Given that an association provides a forum where competitors collaborate on association activities, trade associations are exposed to greater risks of anti-competitive conduct. A number of past Bureau cases have involved trade associations that were engaged in agreements to harm competition. It is therefore critical that trade associations implement credible and effective programs with strict codes of ethics and conduct. Such programs may allow trade associations and [their] members to avoid improper actions and to protect themselves from being used as a conduit for illegal activities. They may also allow trade association members to fully benefit from the association’s activities while reducing the potential for inadvertent contraventions of the Acts.”
(Competition Bureau, Corporate Compliance Programs Information Bulletin)
September 13, 2009
I. Overview
The federal Competition Act (the “Act”) contains both criminal and civil provisions prohibiting a range of anti-competitive activities, many of which can arise in ordinary commercial dealings (e.g., in the context of distributor/customer relations, trade association activities and in relation to many common commercial agreements including IP license agreements, joint venture and strategic alliance agreements and franchise agreements).
September 6, 2009
Overview
In many cases trade association activities serve legitimate pro-competitive purposes, such as industry lobbying, education, promoting an industry or profession and setting standards. However, because trade association activities by their nature involve the interaction of direct competitors, they can also raise significant competition law issues. Because of the potential competition risk associated with some trade association activities, the following are twenty things for trade associations to know about Canadian competition law.
Templates/precedents and checklists to run promotional contests in Canada
Templates/precedents and checklists to comply with Canadian anti-spam law (CASL)
