Archive for the 'Associations' Category
February 28, 2014
In two interesting trade association related cases that caught my eye today, the German (Bundeskartellamt) and Japanese (Fair Trade Commission – “JFTC”) antitrust authorities have taken action against two trade associations for their alleged participation in price-fixing agreements with members (see: here and here).
February 25, 2014
Guest post by Burt Braverman
(Davis Wright Tremaine LLP)
Professional and trade associations contribute to the public welfare in many ways, including disseminating information, promoting research, developing standards and spurring industry initiatives. But such associations generally are composed primarily of actual or potential competitors, and sometimes seemingly benign conduct—including even actions intended to promote the ethical conduct of an association’s members—can have untoward consequences for third parties, association members and the association itself, including potential antitrust liability. The recent announcement by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of consent decrees entered into by two professional associations—the first representing music teachers, and the other representing legal support services providers—highlights this risk and the need for professional and trade associations to guard against their codes of ethics, and also their policies, standards, rules and procedures, being co-opted for potentially anticompetitive purposes.
February 18, 2014
Earlier today, the German antitrust authority (Bundeskartellamt) announced that it had fined Germany’s three largest sugar manufacturers € 280 million in a market division / output restriction cartel case (see: Bundeskartellamt Imposes Fines on Sugar Manufacturers). According to the Bundeskartellamt, the infringements related to an agreement among the three manufacturers over about a fifteen-year period to limit German sugar sales to their respective home sales areas and export sugar rather than sell to customers within competitors’ sales areas.
February 16, 2014
A New Zealand association related case announced a few days ago is a recent reminder that voluntary industry associations are not price regulators (see: Commission issues warning over “no discounting” clause). While there can sometimes be a temptation for trade associations and their leadership to get involved in the competitive activities of their members, and pressure from members to do so, such as relating to prices, services, customers and markets, this recent enforcement by the New Zealand Commerce Commission (“ComCom”) illustrates the potential competition/antitrust law risk of doing so.
February 10, 2014
In a curious bit of competitive beer market rivalry, The Beer Store and the Ontario Convenience Stores Association were issuing dueling news releases earlier today about the debated deregulation of liquor retailing in Ontario. Today’s beer competition duel, it seems, began with The Beer Store issuing a (Beer Store commissioned) report arguing that more competition in beer retailing in Ontario would lead to higher prices. Something of a head scratcher for a competition lawyer such as myself, given that more competition generally leads to lower prices.
February 4, 2014
In an interesting and important development, Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal yesterday sent the Competition Bureau’s (the “Bureau”) abuse of dominance challenge against Canada’s largest real estate board back to the Competition Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) for redetermination. This case is in many ways the first decided essential facilities case in Canada under the Competition Act (the “Act”), though remains to be decided on its facts when it returns to the Tribunal.
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.
Templates/precedents and checklists to run promotional contests in Canada
Templates/precedents and checklists to comply with Canadian anti-spam law (CASL)
