Archive for the 'Immunity Program' Category
September 25, 2013
The Competition Bureau has issued revised Immunity Program FAQs and Leniency Program FAQs (see: Competition Bureau Publishes Revised Immunity and Leniency FAQs). In making the announcement, relating to the first update to its Immunity/Leniency Program FAQs since 2010, the Bureau said:
September 20, 2013
Yesterday the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) announced that two executives of Fujikura Ltd. have been indicted for their roles in the ongoing global auto parts price-fixing investigation. In this case, the indictments relate to allegations that the two executives participated in a conspiracy to fix the prices of automotive wire harnesses sold to Subara for installation in US and other cars.
August 20, 2013
Lately I’ve been seeing a lot more media and other coverage of cartels in Canada. These have included recent record fines of $5 million and $30 million achieved by the Competition Bureau in two auto-parts related bid-rigging cases (see: here), the ongoing gas price-fixing case in Quebec in which three more individuals were recently sentenced and fined (see: here), commentary relating to export cartels and Canpotex/potash production and policy commentary on regulated markets (see for example the C.D. Howe’s recent report: Beer, Butter and Barristers: How Canadian Governments Put Cartels Before Consumers).
June 6, 2013
Earlier today, the Competition Bureau announced that criminal charges have been laid against three companies (Nestlé Canada Inc., Mars Canada Inc. and ITWAL Limited, a national network of independent wholesale distributors) and three individuals (two former Nestlé presidents and the President and CEO of ITWAL), who are being accused of participating in a chocolate price-fixing cartel (a case that has been running now for some six years).
May 27, 2013
In my morning media sweep, an interesting story about a new SNC-Lavalin internal whistleblower / amnesty program caught my eye. In particular, reports this morning (see: here (Globe) and here (Post)) state that SNC is launching an internal “amnesty program” in an effort to root out corruption and competition law violations across its organization, and evidently also as a further step to quiet some months of media reporting.
April 5, 2013
Yesterday, the Competition Bureau announced that in connection with its ongoing motor vehicle components cartel investigation, Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. (Furukawa), a Japanese supplier of motor vehicle components, pled guilty and was fined $5 million by the Ontario Superior Court for participating in a bid-rigging agreement to relating to bids provided to Honda of Canada Manufacturing Inc. (see: $5M Fine for a Japanese Supplier of Motor Vehicle Components).
March 18, 2013
Readers of this blog will know that I often write about bid-rigging (see for example: here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here). Frequently I write about a recent case, investigation, newly announced guilty plea, key types of bid-rigging and penalties and convictions (e.g., the elimination of conditional sentencing for bid-rigging).
February 28, 2013
As part of the kick-off of Fraud Prevention Month it seems, the Competition Bureau has issued an updated pamphlet for businesses on bid-rigging. The Bureau’s new Bid-rigging pamphlet discusses the criminal bid-rigging offences under the Competition Act (section 47), provides some tips to detect and prevent common types of bid-rigging offences (e.g., cover bidding, bid suppression, bid rotation and market division), gives a brief overview of the Bureau’s Immunity and Leniency Programs and bid-rigging penalties. The Bureau’s new pamphlet also includes other bid-rigging related resources, including its multi-media presentation: Bid-Rigging: Awareness and Prevention.
Templates/precedents and checklists to run promotional contests in Canada
Templates/precedents and checklists to comply with Canadian anti-spam law (CASL)
