Archive for the 'Publications' Category
February 20, 2014
As part of its upcoming Global Forum on Competition, the OECD has published an interesting new report on competition in the pharmaceuticals sector entitled Competition Issues in the Distribution of Pharmaceuticals. This new report, with submissions from Canada (the Competition Bureau) and United States (DoJ and FTC), includes discussions on a variety of competition/antitrust topics related to the distribution of brand and generic pharmaceticals.
February 18, 2014
A lot of advertising law, both in Canada and other major jurisdictions, tends to revolve around two major themes: deception and ownership. As such, when it comes to reviewing advertising for compliance in Canada, a lot of issues (or potential issues) can be identified with two main questions: first, “is it true” (i.e., false or misleading)?; and second, “do we own it”?
February 17, 2014
Helping their clients understand (and take steps to avoid) competition/antitrust law cartels is top of the list for outside and in-house competition counsel. The detection and enforcement of competition law cartels has also continued to receive increased enforcement attention in the past few years, both in Canada over the terms of the last two Commissioners of competition, as well as international antitrust agencies, notably in the EU and U.S.
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.
Templates/precedents and checklists to run promotional contests in Canada
Templates/precedents and checklists to comply with Canadian anti-spam law (CASL)
