The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming businesses around the world, offering unprecedented opportunities for innovation and economic prosperity. However, it also presents unique challenges for competition authorities tasked with ensuring fair and efficient markets. In response, the competition authorities such as the Canadian Competition Bureau, the UK Competition and Market Authority (CMA), the European Commission – DG Competition (EC) and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have been actively engaging in consultations and research to understand the implications of AI on competition policy. This blog highlights some of these agencies’ efforts to adapt competition policy to evolving digital markets as well as noting some of the key legal antitrust risks for business.Continue Reading Competition Authorities shining the light on AI

On March 22, 2024, Bill C-34 received royal assent, becoming the National Security Review of Investments Modernization Act. First introduced in the House of Commons by the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry (the “Minister”) on December 7, 2022, the National Security Review of Investments Modernization Act represents the most significant amendment to the Investment Canada Act (the “ICA”) since the introduction of national security provisions in 2009. Notably, the new legislation:

  • Creates a suspensory pre-closing filing requirement and waiting period for investments in certain (yet-to-be) prescribed sensitive sectors, such as the interactive digital media sector and the critical minerals sector, for instance;
  • Creates a new authority for the Minister to initiate national security reviews under section 25.3 of the ICA and to accept undertakings to mitigate national security risk (previously, the authority for both of the foregoing rested with the Cabinet of Canada); and
  • Increases the maximum penalty for non-compliance with the ICA to $25,000 for each day of contravention, up from $10,000.

Continue Reading The National Security Review of Investments Modernization Act Receives Royal Assent

On March 1, 2024, the Government of Canada unveiled two new foreign investment policies relating to the interactive digital media sector: one relating to national security reviews and the other to cultural investment reviews.

The policies define “interactive digital media” (“IDM”) as, without limitation, “digital content and/or an environment in which users can actively participate or that facilitates collaborative participation among multiple users for the purposes of entertainment, information or education, and commonly delivered via the Internet, mobile networks, gaming consoles or media storage devices.”Continue Reading Canada to Subject Interactive Digital Media Investments to Enhanced Scrutiny