Archive for the 'Associations' Category
On February 17, 2012, the Competition Bureau announced that Construction G.T.R.L. (1990) Inc., Acoustique JCG Inc. and Enterprises de Construction OPC Inc. pleaded guilty to bid-rigging in Quebec Superior Court in a case relating to the expansion of the Chicoutimi Hospital in 2003 (see: Quebec Construction Companies Plead Guilty to Rigging Bids for the Chicoutimi Hospital).
In making the announcement, the Bureau said:
“The court ordered Construction G.T.R.L. to pay a fine of $50,000, and Acoustique JCG and Entreprises de Construction OPC to pay a fine of $25,000 each. The companies are subject to a court order for a period of 10 years.
‘Bid-rigging harms everyone but the criminals who cheat the system for their own financial gain,’ said Melanie Aitken, Commissioner of Competition. ‘In this case, the bid-rigging scheme ultimately harmed the Chicoutimi Hospital and Saguenay residents, by preventing the hospital from obtaining a competitive price for its renovation.’”
The construction industry has long been a target of competition/antitrust regulators. For example, some of the construction related cases in Canada, many of which have also involved trade associations and have gone back about a century, have included building contractors, corrugated metal pipe manufacturers, electrical contractors, gypsum dealers and manufacturers, plumbing contractors, road surfacing contractors, chain link fence contractors, among many others.
The Antitrust Law Section of the American Bar Association recently announced the publication of Antitrust Law Developments (Seventh). Antitrust Law Developments is the seminal general U.S. text on antitrust law, a landmark of scholarship and reflects the collective efforts of many leading antitrust law practitioners and scholars.
From the American Bar Association:
“Antitrust Law Developments (Seventh) is the seminal comprehensive review of federal antitrust law, with reports on current case law and administrative and legislative developments current through 2011.
This 2-volume set updates you on key decisions in the courts, and developments at the enforcement agencies, keeping you current in every area of antitrust practice. Each edition of Antitrust Law Developments is designed to improve upon, as well as update, prior editions, and to ensure consistency with everchanging developments in this dynamic area of law.
This new seventh edition addresses important developments, including the Supreme Court’s decisions in Twombly, Leegin, American Needle, linkLine, and Weyerhaeuser and their treatment in the lower courts. Developments in the courts of appeals relating to bundled discounts and the antitrust-intellectual property interface all receive comprehensive treatment. The chapter on mergers and acquisitions has been substantially revised to reflect the new DOJ/FTC Horizontal Merger Guidelines and new foreign merger control regimes, and the discussion of the misuse doctrine in the chapter on intellectual property has been reorganized and revised.
Antitrust Law Developments (Seventh) is the product of an enormous team effort of Antitrust Section members and is a “must have” for every antitrust practitioner.
On January 6, 2012 the Competition Bureau announced its first cartel case under Canada’s amended Competition Act (partially brought under the new section 45 of the Competition Act).
In this case, two companies pleaded guilty of fixing the price of polyurethane foam and were fined a total of C $12.5 million (see: Cartels Update: Bureau Announces $12.5 Million Fine in First Price-fixing Case Under Amended Competition Act and Competition Bureau Sends Signal to Price-Fixers with $12.5 Million Fine).
In making the announcement, believed to be one of a number of new cartel cases currently being investigated, the Bureau said:
“’Yesterday’s guilty plea is the first conviction under Canada’s amended conspiracy law,’ said Melanie Aitken, Commissioner of Competition. ‘This investigation highlights the Bureau’s reinvigorated mandate to stop consumer harm caused by price-fixing, and to secure significant fines for these serious criminal offences.’
The charges are the first to arise from the Bureau’s investigation into price-fixing cartel in the polyurethane foam industry. Anyone with information relating to this investigation is encouraged to contact the Competition Bureau.
The Bureau’s investigation benefitted from cooperation under the Bureau’s Immunity and Leniency Programs, which create incentives for parties to address their criminal liability by cooperating with the Bureau in its ongoing investigation and prosecution of other alleged cartel participants.
Under the Competition Act, an agreement between competitors to fix prices, allocate markets or restrict output in Canada is a criminal offence. In March 2010, amendments to the conspiracy provision of the Act came into force.”
The Bureau also recently confirmed that it is investigating potential effects in Canada from the alleged global LIBOR-TIBOR bank cartel (see: Cartel Update: Competition Bureau Investigates Alleged Interbank Lending Rate Coordination), that it continues to receive guilty pleas in the Quebec gasoline price-fixing case, which was the largest such investigation in the Bureau’s history (see: Cartels Update: Seven More Individuals Plead Guilty in Criminal Quebec Gasoline Price-fixing Cartel) and that it remains focused on both maintaining and increasing its cooperation with global enforcement agencies in the detection and enforcement of cartels.
Last week, the Competition Bureau announced that Construction G.T.R.L. (1990) Inc., Acoustique JCG Inc. and Enterprises de Construction OPC Inc. pleaded guilty to bid-rigging in Quebec Superior Court in relation to the expansion of the Chicoutimi Hospital in 2003 (see: Quebec Construction Companies Plead Guilty to Rigging Bids for the Chicoutimi Hospital).
In making this announcement, the Bureau said:
“The court ordered Construction G.T.R.L. to pay a fine of $50,000, and Acoustique JCG and Entreprises de Construction OPC to pay a fine of $25,000 each. The companies are subject to a court order for a period of 10 years.
‘Bid-rigging harms everyone but the criminals who cheat the system for their own financial gain,’ said Melanie Aitken, Commissioner of Competition. ‘In this case, the bid-rigging scheme ultimately harmed the Chicoutimi Hospital and Saguenay residents, by preventing the hospital from obtaining a competitive price for its renovation.’”
The construction industry has long been a target of competition/antitrust regulators. For example, some of the construction related cases in Canada, many of which have also involved trade associations (and have gone back about a century), have included building contractors, corrugated metal pipe manufacturers, electrical contractors, gypsum dealers and manufacturers, plumbing contractors, among many others.
There have also been a number of recent bid-rigging cases in Canada, many of which have involved construction and construction supply related companies.
For example, see: Guilty Plea and $425,000 Fine for Bid-rigging in Montreal, Charges Laid in Residential Construction Bid-rigging Scheme in Montreal, Competition Bureau Exposes Sewer Services Cartel in Quebec, Competition Bureau Obtains Court Order Against the Saskatchewan Roofing Contractors Association.
Canadian Marketing Association – 2012 CMA Summit
MAY 16 – 17 2012
The Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) will be holding its 2012 Summit entitled Connections: Listen, Engage, Measure in Toronto from May 16 – 17 2012.
From the CMA:
“Marketing is about connecting. Connecting with consumers, connecting with customers, connecting with each other. The CMA Summit 2012 (formerly the CMA National Convention) is all about Connections. How these connections are made, maintained and measured.
Learn from world-class speakders (keynote and workshop), visionaries, tactical experts, leading-edge strategists and marketing miracle workers who will help you find your way in an ever-changing business environment. Give yourself the greatest advantage over your competitors knowledge!
Network with the who’s who of the marketing world. Make important business connections with clients, suppliers, competitors and peers. This summit brings the marketing world together in one convenient place!”
For more see:
Connections: Listen, Engage, Measure
____________________
For more information about our regulatory law services contact: contact
For more regulatory law updates follow us on Twitter: @CanadaAttorney
In an interesting story in the Montreal Gazette today, Douglas Quan reports that a Public Safety Canada study calls for “more independent oversight” to “combat bribery, extortion, collusive bidding and other illegal activities in Canada’s commercial construction industry”:
“’Every contractual link provides an opportunity for someone to pay a bribe in return for the award of the contract,’ the study said.
The corruption can take many forms. Contractors have been known to pay bribes in order to obtain a contract. Union officials have threatened work slowdowns unless contractors pay them money. Competing firms have entered into agreements where they share their bid prices with one another prior to bidding in order to pre-determine the winner and then the winning firm pays a kickback to the losing firm. Such corruption can lead to unsafe construction projects because they ‘fail to meet safety requirements as a result of fraud in building materials or the bribery of public inspectors,’ the study warned.”
The construction industry has long been the target of allegations and investigations by competition/antitrust regulators. For example, some of the construction related cases in Canada, many of which have also involved trade associations, have included building contractors, corrugated metal pipe manufacturers, electrical contractors, gypsum dealers and manufacturers, plumbing contractors, among many others.
A question commonly posed to competition counsel, including me, when talking about the risks of meetings between competitors and information exchanges (for example in the trade association context) is whether it is illegal to merely talk about competitively sensitive information – for example, prices, costs, markets, customers, suppliers, strategic or business plans and so on.
In an interesting speech issued a little while back (Antitrust Issues Related to Benchmarking and Other Information Exchanges), Thomas Rosch, a Commissioner of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, addresses a number of current and historical issues related to information exchanges and benchmarking. Given that many of the same issues can arise regardless of jurisdiction (though enforcement agencies in Europe tend to approach the issue more strictly), I thought I would post some of the highlights of his remarks.
MARCH 27, 2012 – Toronto
Advertising Standards Canada (“ASC”) will be holding an introductory seminar relating to its Canadian Code of Advertising Standards, “Canada’s principal instrument of advertising regulation.”
Templates/precedents and checklists to run promotional contests in Canada
Templates/precedents and checklists to comply with Canadian anti-spam law (CASL)
