Archive for the 'Competition Law' Category
August 25, 2010
The 2010 Canadian Bar Association Annual Competition Law Fall Conference will be held from September 30 to October 1, 2010 in Gatineau, Quebec.
August 23, 2010
By Derek Ireland
There are some useful parallels between the competition policy and law experience of Canada and the competition policy and law challenges now being faced by smaller developing and transition economies as well as other developing countries with small and fragmented markets that have recently adopted and started to enforce a modern competition law. Canada compared with our closest neighbour the United States has a small market and developed its modern industrial base and fully opened its market to foreign trade and investment much later than our much larger neighbour. Canada passed its first competition statute in 1889 which is one year earlier than the Sherman Act in the United States, but enforcement of the Canadian law was limited for nearly one hundred years. Canada in many ways had to “start from scratch” when the Canadian Competition Bureau began enforcement of the modern Competition Act of 1986.
August 22, 2010
What is “Misleading Advertising”?
The federal Competition Act contains criminal and civil provisions that prohibit false or misleading representations and deceptive marketing practices. These are frequently referred to as the “misleading advertising” provisions of the Act.
August 20, 2010
On August 19, 2010, the United States Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission issued their new Horizontal Merger Guidelines, which were issued in draft last April for public comment.
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.
August 15, 2010
The Competition Bureau announced August 13ththat it would not challenge Shaw Communication Inc.’s proposed acquisition of the specialty television and over-the-air businesses of Canwest Global Communications Corp. Shaw is a broadcast distribution undertaking, its affiliate (Corus Entertainment) is a broadcasting company and Canwest owns and operates an over-the-air television network (as well as a portfolio of specialty television channels).
August 13, 2010
The Competition Bureau has announced that divestitures have been agreed to in the recent Novartis/Alcon transaction, and that it has reached an agreement with Novartis AG to resolve competition issues associated with its proposed acquisition of Alcon, Inc.
August 12, 2010
The Chronicle Herald has reported that some Nova Scotia automobile dealers recently received a reminder from their trade association regarding the conspiracy rules under the federal Competition Act. According to the Executive Vice-president of the Nova Scotia Automobile Dealers Association, the association wanted to “make sure that [its] members know this legislation exists.”