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Justine Reisler

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Justine Reisler's practice focuses on all aspects of competition law, deceptive marketing and foreign investment law, with a focus on domestic and multinational mergers.

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On July 1, 2021, the Competition Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) ruled that it does not have the power to issue “interim, interim orders” in the context of a proposed merger of two companies in the midstream infrastructure and environmental solutions space. Rather, the Tribunal found that, in the case of mergers, interim relief is limited to that expressly provided for by sections 100 and 104 of the Competition Act (the “Act”).…

Continue Reading Competition Tribunal Dismisses Request for Interim, Interim Order

As noted in our prior blog post titled “New Competitor Collaboration Guidelines”, the updated Competitor Collaboration Guidelines (the “CCGs”) issued earlier this month include a new hypothetical example of an illegal “hub and spoke” conspiracy among a mid-stream distributor and the retailers selling its products. As discussed in more detail below,…

On April 1, 2021, the Government of Canada announced two important updates relating to merger filing fees: (i) a decreased merger filing fee ($74,905.57), and (ii) a new Service Fees Remission Policy.

Decreased Merger Filing Fee for 2021

Effective immediately, the Competition Bureau’s (the “Bureau”) filing fee for merger reviews has decreased from…

On March 24, 2021, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry (the “Minister”) announced updates to the Guidelines on the National Security Review of Investments (the “Guidelines”) issued under the Investment Canada Act (the “ICA”).

This first update since the Guidelines were issued on December 21, 2016 appears…

Competition, marketing and foreign investment law saw a number of changes in the past year. Many of these changes were in response to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, which has changed every aspect of how Canadians, businesses and government agencies operate. Despite the pandemic, the Competition Bureau (the “Bureau”) has actively continued its enforcement activity and provided a number of guidance documents to help businesses stay onside the Competition Act (the “Act”). Similarly, Canada’s Investment Review Division also had to respond to the challenges posed by the pandemic.

Below we discuss ten key themes seen in the competition, marketing and foreign investment law space this year, and discuss what the year ahead has in store.
Continue Reading What 2020 tells us about 2021 and beyond: Fasken’s Year-End Review of the Top 10 Trends in Canadian Competition, Marketing & Foreign Investment Law

On Friday, the Foreign Investment Review Committee (“FIRC”) of the Canadian Bar Association’s (“CBA”) Competition Law Section met with representatives from the Investment Review Division (“IRD”), Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (“ISED”) and the Cultural Sector Investment Review (“CSIR”), Canadian Heritage. The meeting featured interesting and informative presentations from representatives from both the IRD and CSIR, followed by a Q&A. Outlined below are some of the highlights.

  1. Highlights from the IRD’s Presentation

(a) Net Benefit to Canada Review Threshold for UK Investors

The United Kingdom (“UK”), which has left the European Union (“EU”), and by extension the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (“CETA”), is currently in a transition period which is set to end on December 31, 2020. During the transition period, UK investors have benefited from the net benefit to Canada review threshold available to trade agreement investors. As of January 1, 2021, investments into Canada by UK investors will be subject to the lower threshold for World Trade Organisation  (“WTO”) investors.
Continue Reading Highlights from the Foreign Investment Review Committee’s Town Hall with the Investment Review Division and Cultural Sector Investment Review

The Canadian Competition Bureau (the “Bureau”) issued much welcomed guidance on Friday to confirm what many have said to date, namely that no-poaching,[1] wage-fixing[2] and other buy-side agreements fall outside the scope of the criminal conspiracy provision (section 45) of the Competition Act (the “Act”). This guidance comes in…

The Canadian Competition Bureau (the “Bureau”) released some informative statistics summarizing the number and characteristics of merger reviews started and concluded by the Bureau’s Mergers Directorate in its 2019-2020 fiscal year (ending March 31, 2020). In past years, similar information was presented by the Bureau at the Mergers Roundtable hosted by the Canadian Bar Association’s Mergers Committee and the Mergers Directorate, which did not happen this year due to COVID-19.

Non-Notifiable Mergers

About a year ago, the Bureau expanded the role of its Merger Notification Unit, now referred to as the Merger Intelligence and Notification Unit, to include a broader focus on active intelligence gathering on non-notifiable merger transactions that may raise competition concerns. These efforts have borne fruit, with the Bureau identifying and reviewing a number of non-notifiable transactions where the parties would not have otherwise engaged with the Bureau prior to closing. In one instance, the Bureau became aware of a non-notifiable transaction, Evonik Industries AG’s acquisition of PeroxyChem Holding Company LLC, and entered into a consent agreement with the merging parties which required the divestiture of assets in British Columbia to remedy competition concerns.

Number of Annual filings and reviews

There has been a slight increase in merger filings and reviews over the past year, although not outside the normal range for the past 10 years. Set out below is a chart outlining the total number of merger filings by year for the past 10 years.

image: Competition Bureau Canada

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Continue Reading Merger Review by the Canadian Competition Bureau in 2019-2020: Breaking down the Numbers

The Canadian Competition Bureau (the “Bureau”) has released a toolkit – Strengthening Canada’s economy through pro-competitive policies (the “Toolkit”) – to assist regulators and policymakers, at all levels of government, in maximizing competition in Canadian industries. The Toolkit offers a five-step process for policymakers to assess the impact of new and existing policies on competition, and tailor those policies to maximize the benefits of competition across the Canadian economy.

The Bureau suggests engaging in a competition assessment each time a new policy is proposed or an existing policy is reviewed. The Bureau’s five-step competition assessment process is summarized below:

Step 1: Identify the policy. The first step is to specify the underlying goals that the policy is designed to achieve and the proposed measures to achieve those goals.

Step 2: Assess whether the policy impacts competition. The second step involves an assessment of the impact of the proposed measures on competition, with reference to the following four indicators of a competitive marketplace:

  • the ability of businesses to enter or expand in a market or operate across borders;
  • the ability of businesses to set the price, quality and quantity of the products or services sold;
  • the incentives for businesses to compete vigorously; and
  • the potential for consumers to switch between competing businesses.

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Continue Reading Competition Bureau Seeks to Promote Consideration of Competition by Policymakers with New Toolkit

On July 6, 2020, the Competition Bureau (the “Bureau”) published its Annual Plan for 2020-21 titled “Protecting competition in uncertain times” (the “Annual Plan”). The Annual Plan provides specific action items for implementing the Bureau’s 2020-24 Strategic Vision (the “Strategic Vision”) published this February.

As discussed in…