May 19, 2023
On May 18, 2023, the Competition Bureau announced that it was suing Cineplex Inc. (Cineplex) for allegedly advertising misleading ticket prices (see: Competition Bureau sues Cineplex for allegedly advertising misleading ticket prices).
May 15, 2023
Practical Law Canada Competition, of which I am Lawyer Editor, has published a new Legal Update that discusses the Competition Bureau’s new online Competition Compliance Portal, which replaces its former Corporate Compliance Programs Bulletin.
Below is an excerpt with a link to the full Legal Update.
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This Legal Update discusses the Competition Bureau’s (Bureau) new Compliance Portal, which updates its competition law compliance program guidance from its former Corporate Compliance Programs Bulletin. The Update discusses the Bureau’s new Compliance Portal, key changes from its former compliance program guidance and compliance implications for companies and other organizations that need to comply with Canadian competition laws.
May 3, 2023
On May 2, 2023, Canada’s Globe and Mail published an opinion by Canada’s Commissioner of Competition (Commissioner), Matthew Boswell, arguing that key Canadian consumer markets are highly concentrated and urging for another new round of Competition Act reform.
In this regard, in general, the Commissioner argues that Canada has had a long history of concentration and monopolization in key sectors, including transportation, telecom and banking, and that legislative reform has for the most part resisted increasing competition.
April 29, 2023
On April 28, 2023, the Competition Bureau (Bureau) announced that Terry Croteau, a Canadian telemarketer, was sentenced to serve 30 months in prison and to pay a fine of $1.28 million for running a fraudulent online directory scam (see: here). See also: 30 Months in jail and $1.28 million restitution ordered in online business directories case.
April 21, 2023
On April 17, 2023, Canada’s Competition Bureau (Bureau) published its new Annual Plan (see: 2023-2024 Annual Plan: Driving Competition Forward For All Canadians).
April 17, 2023
On April 17, 2023 the Competition Bureau (Bureau) published a new edition of its Deceptive Marketing Practices Digest (Volume 6) (Marketing Digest).
The Bureau’s new Marketing Digest discusses three Canadian advertising/marketing law related topics: the use of scarcity cues (i.e., claims that an offering has limited availability), drip pricing and its recent presidency of the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN).
March 28, 2023
Practical Law Canada Competition, of which I am Lawyer Editor, has published a new Legal Update that discusses the Competition Bureau’s submission to the Canadian government in response to the government’s public consultation on amendments to the Competition Act.
Below is an excerpt with a link to the full Legal Update.
March 25, 2023
CASL (FEDERAL ANTI-SPAM LAW)
COMPLIANCE PRECEDENTS AND CHECKLISTS
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to comply with Canadian anti-spam law?
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Our compliance precedents and checklists are an excellent way to mitigate risk and avoid common CASL-related issues, including relating to express consent requests, sender identification information for CEMs, CASL-compliant unsubscribe mechanisms, business related exemptions and types of implied consent and documenting consent and scrubbing distribution lists. We also offer a template CASL corporate compliance program based on the Canadian CRTC’s CASL compliance program recommendations.
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COMMON CASL (CANADIAN ANTI-SPAM LAW) COMPLIANCE ERRORS:
RELYING ON OLD (AGGREGATED) MARKETING LISTS
Canada’s federal anti-spam legislation (CASL) came into force in 2014. Since then, marketers and their advisors have been working to comply with what remains a complex law with outstanding uncertainties in some key areas. In providing CASL advice to clients since CASL came into force, and even over the past several years, I have regularly seen some of the same compliance errors being repeatedly made.
In this regard, one of the most common CASL compliance errors I see are issues relating to relying on old and often aggregated (i.e., combined) marketing lists.
In this regard, it is not uncommon for clients to tell us that they are using an old (sometimes pre-CASL) distribution list and that they are not sure whether or how any express or implied consents were gathered. Commonly, such lists are not regularly reviewed or scrubbed of names where consent to send electronic messages no longer exists or a CASL exemption no longer applies.
Templates/precedents and checklists to run promotional contests in Canada
Templates/precedents and checklists to comply with Canadian anti-spam law (CASL)
