Archive for the 'Developments' Category
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 23, 2014
Steve Szentesi
Kevin Wright (Davis LLP)
Extract from a chapter to be published in CLEBC
Annual Review of Law & Practice – 2014
The following are several of the key competition law private action cases in Canada in 2013 from our forthcoming chapter in CLEBC’s Annual Review of Law & Practice – 2014. For the first three posts (misleading advertising, mergers and Investment Canada Act, and civil and criminal matters) see: here, here and here. Tomorrow I’ll post our final update of key competition law developments from last year: trade and professional associations, new Competition Bureau guidelines and other developments.
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Joint Procurement of Oilfield Services
On June 14, 2013, the Alberta Court of Appeal unanimously reversed a controversial trial judgment holding that two competing oil and gas producers had illegally conspired contrary to the pre-2010 version of section 45 of the Act (i.e., the criminal conspiracy provision) by agreeing to use one supplier of certain oil field services to the exclusion of the plaintiff: 321665 Alberta Ltd. v. Husky Oil Operations Ltd., 2013 ABCA 221. On January 16, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the plaintiff’s application for leave to appeal.
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)
