Canadian COMPETITION LAW

May 22, 2018

Practical Law Canada Competition has published a new Legal Update, which discusses the Competition Bureau’s revised draft Immunity and Leniency Programs, which were recently re-issued for a second time in draft form for public consultation.  Below is an excerpt with a link to the full Update.

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This Legal Update discusses the Competition Bureau’s revised draft Immunity and Leniency Programs, released for public consultation on May 8, 2018. These proposed revisions follow input from a prior public consultation on an earlier draft Immunity Program in the Fall of 2017. This Update includes a summary of key proposed changes.

Practical Law Canada Competition

On May 8, 2018, the Competition Bureau (Bureau) issued its revised Immunity and Leniency Programs  for public consultation (open until June 7, 2018). This document contains revisions to the Bureau’s Immunity Program following a public consultation in October 2017, as well as proposed changes to the Bureau’s Leniency Program.

Background

The Bureau considers its Immunity and Leniency Programs (Programs) to be the most powerful means of uncovering and breaking up criminal cartel agreements prohibited by the Competition Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-34. The Programs also apply to other criminal provisions of the Competition Act, such as deceptive advertising offences.

Parties that have committed criminal offences under the Competition Act may be entitled to either complete immunity from prosecution under the Immunity Program or, where they are not eligible for immunity, leniency in sentencing under the Leniency Program.

For more information, see Practice Notes, Competition Bureau Immunity and Leniency Programs; Canadian Bid-Rigging Law; Canadian Conspiracy (Cartel) Law; and Misleading Advertising Under the Competition Act. See also Calculation of Competition Act Fines Checklist.

In late 2015, the Commissioner of Competition (Commissioner) announced that the Bureau would be reviewing its Immunity and Leniency Programs. This led to the initial draft revised Immunity Program released in October 2017. Following public consultation, the Bureau has now issued, in a single document, a further draft revised Immunity Program and a draft revised Leniency Program. The document is in three parts:

Part One: The Immunity Program.

Part Two: The Leniency Program.

Part Three: Matters Common to the Immunity and Leniency Programs.

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For the full Update see: here.

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We are a Toronto based competition and advertising law firm offering business and individual clients efficient and strategic advice in relation to competition/antitrust, advertising, Internet and new media law and contest law. We also offer competition and regulatory law compliance, education and policy services to companies, trade and professional associations and government agencies.

Our experience includes advising clients in Toronto, across Canada and the United States on the application of Canadian competition and regulatory laws and we have worked on hundreds of domestic and cross-border competition, advertising and marketing, promotional contest (sweepstakes), conspiracy (cartel), abuse of dominance, compliance, refusal to deal and pricing and distribution matters. For more information about our competition and advertising law services see: competition law services.

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For more information about our firm, visit our website: Competitionlawyer.ca

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