June 11, 2019
Practical Law Canada has published a New Legal Update, which discusses recent Competition Bureau (Bureau) and policy changes relating to the digital economy in Canada. This new Update includes key points from recent Commissioner of Competition speeches, media interviews and conferences hosted by the Bureau and OECD.
Below is an excerpt with a link to the full Update.
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On March 5, 2019, the Government of Canada announced that Matthew Boswell would serve as Canada’s new Commissioner of Competition (Commissioner) for a five-year term. Shortly after his appointment, the new Commissioner outlined his policy and enforcement priorities in a speech at the Canadian Bar Association’s Competition Law Spring Conference (see Commissioner of Competition, Speech, No River too Wide, No Mountain too High: Enforcing and Promoting Competition in the Digital Age (May 7, 2019)).
Many of the new Commissioner’s stated priorities for the Competition Bureau (Bureau) are focused on the digital economy. The Commissioner’s initial digital economy related comments in his May 7th speech, including enhanced enforcement, have now been amplified in subsequent announcements and proceedings (see, for example, CBC News, New tools, stiffer penalties needed to police big tech companies, says competition watchdog (May 31, 2019) and OECD Conference on Competition and the Digital Economy (June 3, 2019)).
The Bureau also hosted a Data Forum in Ottawa on May 20th, which included discussions by Canadian and international experts on a range of digital economy related issues, including digital platforms, privacy and competition, data portability and interoperability and the regulatory and enforcement landscape.
The Bureau’s increased emphasis on competition and the digital economy tie in to current Federal Government related policies, notably its recently released Digital Charter, which includes several competition related principles (for example, stronger enforcement, ensuring a level playing field including fair competition and transparency, portability and interoperability to give Canadians more control over their data). The Bureau’s new digital economy policy goals also come at the same time as US antitrust agencies are reported to be commencing investigations of Google, Facebook and Amazon and a parallel House Judiciary Committee inquiry has been launched into whether tech companies are using their market power to harm competition.
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For the full Update, see: New Commissioner of Competition Increases Focus on the Digital Economy.
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