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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).

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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.

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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.

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CANADIAN CASL (ANTI-SPAM LAW) PRECEDENTS

Do you need a precedent or checklist
to comply with CASL (Canadian anti-spam law)?

We offer Canadian anti-spam law (CASL) precedents and checklists to help electronic marketers comply with CASL.  These include checklists and precedents for express consent requests (including on behalf of third parties), sender identification information, unsubscribe mechanisms, business related exemptions and types of implied consent and documenting consent and scrubbing distribution lists.  We also offer a CASL corporate compliance program.  For more information or to order, see: Anti-Spam (CASL) Precedents/Forms.  If you would like to discuss CASL legal advice or for other advertising or marketing in Canada, including contests/sweepstakes, contact us: steve@szentesilaw.com

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Five months or so to go until Canada’s new anti-spam legislation (CASL) will largely come into force.  Generally speaking, the new law will require advance, express opt-in consent for commercial electronic messages sent to or received by Canadian computers, including inbound marketing by U.S. and international marketers, unless an exception or category of implied consent applies.

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January 23, 2014

Steve Szentesi
Kevin Wright (Davis LLP)

Extract from a chapter to be published in CLEBC
Annual Review of Law & Practice – 2014

The following are several of the key competition law private action cases in Canada in 2013 from our forthcoming chapter in CLEBC’s Annual Review of Law & Practice – 2014.  For the first three posts (misleading advertising, mergers and Investment Canada Act, and civil and criminal matters) see: here, here and here.  Tomorrow I’ll post our final update of key competition law developments from last year: trade and professional associations, new Competition Bureau guidelines and other developments.

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Joint Procurement of Oilfield Services

On June 14, 2013, the Alberta Court of Appeal unanimously reversed a controversial trial judgment holding that two competing oil and gas producers had illegally conspired contrary to the pre-2010 version of section 45 of the Act (i.e., the criminal conspiracy provision) by agreeing to use one supplier of certain oil field services to the exclusion of the plaintiff: 321665 Alberta Ltd. v. Husky Oil Operations Ltd., 2013 ABCA 221.  On January 16, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the plaintiff’s application for leave to appeal.

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January 22, 2014

A new C.D. Howe Institute report, entitled “Full Throttle: Reforming Canada’s Aviation Policy”, looks at ways to lower the cost of air travel in Canada and make the Canadian airline industry more competitive.

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January 22, 2014

Steve Szentesi
Kevin Wright (Davis LLP)

Extract from a chapter to be published in CLEBC
Annual Review of Law & Practice – 2014

The following are some of the key civil and criminal competition law developments in Canada in 2013 (late 2012 to early 2014) from our forthcoming chapter in CLEBC’s Annual Review of Law & Practice – 2014.

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January 21, 2014

Steve Szentesi
Kevin Wright (Davis LLP)

Extract from a chapter to be published in CLEBC
Annual Review of Law & Practice – 2014

The following are some of the key merger and Investment Canada Act developments in Canada in 2013 (late 2012 to early 2014) from our forthcoming chapter in CLEBC’s Annual Review of Law & Practice – 2014.

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    buy-contest-form Templates/precedents and checklists to run promotional contests in Canada

    buy-contest-form Templates/precedents and checklists to comply with Canadian anti-spam law (CASL)

    WELCOME TO CANADIAN COMPETITION LAW! - OUR COMPETITION BLOG

    We are a Toronto based competition, advertising and regulatory law firm.

    We offer business, association, government and other clients in Toronto, Canada and internationally efficient and strategic advice in relation to Canadian competition, advertising, regulatory and new media laws. We also offer compliance, education and policy services.

    Our experience includes more than 20 years advising companies, trade and professional associations, governments and other clients in relation to competition, advertising and marketing, promotional contest, cartel, abuse of dominance, competition compliance, refusal to deal and pricing and distribution law matters.

    Our representative work includes filing and defending against Competition Bureau complaints, legal opinions and advice, competition, CASL and advertising compliance programs and strategy in competition and regulatory law matters.

    We have also written and helped develop many competition and advertising law related industry resources including compliance programs, acting as subject matter experts for online and in-person industry compliance courses and Steve Szentesi as Lawyer Editor for Practical Law Canada Competition.

    For more about us, visit our website: here.