May 28, 2013
Somewhat coincidentally, having just written a short note yesterday on SNC-Lavalin’s announced internal amnesty program and whistleblower protections under the Competition Act, the Interim Commissioner of Competition announced a new Competition Bureau “Criminal Cartel Whistleblowing Initiative” today as part of remarks given at the CBA’s annual Spring competition law conference.
In making the announcement, evidently intended to complement the Bureau’s existing complaint process, Immunity and Leniency Programs and other investigative tools to detect and prosecute cartels (and highlight the existing whistleblower protections under the existing Competition Act), the Interim Commissioner said:
“I am pleased to share with you that today we will be launching an important initiative that the Criminal Matters Branch has been working on: The Criminal Cartel Whistleblowing Initiative. …
This initiative is a way for members of the public to provide information to the Bureau regarding possible violations of the criminal cartel provisions of the Act. Anyone who has reasonable grounds to believe that a person has committed, or intends to commit, a criminal offence under the Act, may notify the Bureau of the particulars of the matter and may request that his or her identity be kept confidential.
The Bureau will keep confidential the identity of a person who has made such disclosure and to whom an assurance of confidentiality has been provided. The Bureau will also ensure that any information provided by a whistleblower that is communicated to other law enforcement agencies does not reveal the identity of the whistleblower.
We believe that this initiative will support increased reporting of anti-competitive behaviour, while ensuring the protection of individuals who come forward with such information.”
The Bureau’s new whistleblower program, the details of which were posted today on the Bureau’s website, defines “whistleblower”, briefly describes the whistleblower protections under the Competition Act (see also here and here), sets out the Competition Act’s criminal offences (that include price-fixing and other cartel agreements among competitors, bid-rigging and foreign directed conspiracies) and the Bureau’s enforcement powers. The Bureau also describes the confidentiality protections available to whistleblowers under the Competition Act and its new program.
Given that the Bureau has received around 20,000 complaints a year, it will be interesting to see whether this new Bureau program will lead to a spike in Bureau contacts and, of more interest to the Bureau, lead to the detection of more cartels, domestic cartels in particular.
This new announcement by the Bureau, which may further raise the incentive to report cartel activities, is another in a series of events over the past few years in Canada toughening cartel enforcement, which has included the introduction of per se criminal cartel offences, the elimination of conditional sentences for some Competition Act offences and a tougher stance by the Federal Court in Canada in relation to cartel sentencing.
For more about Canadian cartel laws, Bureau enforcement and its Immunity and Leniency Programs see: here, here and here.
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