On June 23, 2022, Bill C-19, also known as the Budget Implementation Act, 2022, No.1 (“BIA”), received royal assent. The BIA was tabled in Parliament on April 7, 2022 and included significant proposed amendments to the Competition Act (the “Act”).
Continue Reading Significant Amendments to Canada’s Competition Act Are Now Law: What You Need to Know
Competition
Antitrust/Competition, Foreign Investment and Marketing Law Implications of the COVID-19 Response: Practical Guidance for Business
Canada’s antitrust/competition, marketing and foreign investment laws continue to apply despite the global health and economic crisis arising from COVID-19. However, the enforcement of these laws are being significantly impacted by the COVID-19 response. These developments are fast moving and change almost daily.
Fasken’s Antitrust/Competition & Marketing Group continues to monitor these developments very closely.…
What Constitutes a Separate Product?
Tying occurs when a consumer buys one product (the “tying product”) and is required to either purchase an additional product that exists in a separate market (the “tied product”), or agrees not to purchase the additional tied product from any other seller. Tied selling is only problematic where the practice is likely to have an anti-competitive effect.
A fundamental requirement of tying is the existence of two products, the tying product and the tied product (the “separate products criterion”). The separate products criterion is not always straight-forward because all value-adding activity involves a degree of bundling of separate components, however no economic test exists to determine where one product should end and another begin.
One can easily imagine situations where the existence of a stand-alone market for the tied product can coexist with a bundled product. For example, it is possible to buy shoelaces (tied product) as a stand-alone product in shoe stores, but sellers of new shoes sell their shoes bundled with laces (tying product). Other examples include cars and GPS systems, cars and satellite radio services, and computers and browsers. This distinction has led to debate and varying approaches across jurisdictions.Continue Reading What Constitutes a Separate Product?
The Canadian Competition Tribunal’s Jurisdiction: Broader Than You May Think
The Canadian Competition Tribunal recently dismissed a jurisdictional challenge by HarperCollins to the Commissioner of Competition’s application for an order prohibiting the implementation of an alleged agreement between HarperCollins and other e-book publishers. The Commissioner’s application is under section 90.1 of the Competition Act (“non-criminal agreements between competitors”). It alleges, broadly speaking, that in…
Competition Bureau Releases Updated Consent Agreement Template for Merger Remedy Negotiations
On September 29, 2016, the Competition Bureau (the “Bureau”) released a revised consent agreement template for merger remedy negotiations. The release of the Bureau’s updated template is timely, as the number of consent agreements registered with the Competition Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) have risen significantly since the last template was published in 2007.
This year alone,…
New Trial Ordered: Application of Co-Conspirators’ Exception to the Hearsay Rule at Issue in Price-Fixing Conspiracy Case
On September 9, 2016, the Quebec Court of Appeal (“QCCA”) issued its judgment in two gasoline price-fixing conspiracy cases. The cases were the product of the Competition Bureau’s (the “Bureau”) year-long investigation into the fixing of retail gasoline prices in the province of Quebec from April 2005 to May 2006.
The three accused individuals in the cases (Yves Gosselin, Linda Proulx, and Michel Lagrandeur) were charged under the Competition Act’s (the “Act”) former price-fixing provisions for conspiring to fix retail gasoline prices in the cities of Magog and Sherbrooke. All three accused were subsequently convicted at trial. The trial judge arrived at his decision based on the preponderance of evidence adduced during the trial, which included, among other things, hundreds of intercepted telephone conversations, which included statements by co-conspirators.Continue Reading New Trial Ordered: Application of Co-Conspirators’ Exception to the Hearsay Rule at Issue in Price-Fixing Conspiracy Case