February 13, 2020
Practical Law Canada, Competition has published a new Legal Update, which discusses the Competition Bureau’s new Strategic Vision report, which was released on February 11, 2020. The Bureau’s new Strategic Vision report focuses on the digital economy, including competition law issues in relation to the telecommunications, financial services, online marketing and infrastructure sectors.
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On February 11, 2020, the Competition Bureau (Bureau) released its new Strategic Vision report (Report), which outlines its enforcement and advocacy priorities for the next four years (The Competition Bureau’s Strategic Vision for 2020-2024).
In general, the Bureau’s new Report makes the digital economy its top enforcement and advocacy focus for the next four years. In this regard, the Bureau’s general priorities will be three-fold: enhanced enforcement, continuing to promote competition through advocacy and enhancing its organizational and technological resources. Since Canada’s new Commissioner of Competition was appointed in March 2019, the digital economy has been the Bureau’s highest priority. See, for example, Legal Update, New Commissioner of Competition Increases Focus on the Digital Economy.
Key sectors that the Bureau highlights for enforcement and advocacy include telecommunications, financial services, online marketing and infrastructure. These sectors have recently been subject to Bureau advocacy or enforcement (for example, in relation to cell phone prices, retail banking, online marketing issues including deceptive price claims, drip-pricing, influencer marketing and helping tendering authorities detect bid-rigging in relation to public infrastructure projects).
Some of the more specific objectives that the Bureau includes in its Report include all of the following:
Continuing to expand its competition enforcement tools, including the use of interim orders during investigations. The Bureau has recently been expanding its use of enforcement and investigation tools, including, for example, the novel use of a “temporary consent agreement” in lieu of an injunction in its investigation of online travel company FlightHub’s pricing claims (Competition Bureau, News Release, Competition Bureau takes action on false or misleading marketing practices in online flight sales (October 28, 2019)).
The Bureau has also been applying the Competition Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-34 (Competition Act) in novel ways in some recent cases, including in an ongoing investigation into three major political parties for allegedly making false or misleading claims in relation to the collection of private information. For more information about Bureau enforcement, see Practice Notes, Competition Bureau Investigations, Criminal Competition Law Enforcement and Merger Remedies.
Increasing its pro-active intelligence gathering efforts. In this respect, the Bureau previously announced, for example, that it had expanded the role of its Merger Intelligence and Notification Unit to include a “broader focus on intelligence gathering” for potential transactions that may violate the Competition Act and had also created a new Criminal Intelligence Unit (Commissioner of Competition, Speech, No River too Wide, No Mountain too High: Enforcing and Promoting Competition in the Digital Age (May 7, 2019)). For more information about the Bureau’s review of mergers and criminal enforcement, see Practice Note, Substantive Merger Review: Overview and Practice Notes, Considerations and Strategies in Non-Notifiable Transactions Under the Competition Act and Criminal Competition Law Enforcement.
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For the full Legal Update, see: Digital Economy Remains Top Competition Bureau Priority For Next Four Years: New Strategic Vision Report.
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