Publication
On November 2, 2004, the Minister of Industry tabled Bill C-19 proposing amendments to the Competition Act which would (i) significantly expand the monetary remedies available with respect to abuse of dominance, deceptive marketing practices and misleading advertising, and (ii) decriminalize certain offences related to pricing and promotional allowances.
Specifically, the amendments would:
- Decriminalize the pricing provisions, which involves repealing the price discrimination provision under s. 50(1)(a), the geographic price discrimination provision under s. 50(1)(b), the predatory pricing provision under s. 50(1)(c) and the promotional allowances provision under s. 51. These types of conduct would instead be dealt with under the civil abuse of dominance provisions of the Competition Act (s. 79). Decriminalization lowers the burden of proof to the civil balance of probabilities, but the Commissioner of Competition must prove that the parties involved had market power which is a required element under the abuse provisions.
- Introduce administrative monetary penalties in abuse of dominance cases to a maximum of $10 million and $15 million for each subsequent order.
- Introduce monetary restitution to compensate consumer loss due to false or misleading representations under the civil provisions, the amount of which could not exceed the amount paid for the products. The amendments would also allow for interim injunctions to prevent a person engaged in such reviewable conduct from disposing of assets.
- Increase the existing levels of administrative monetary penalties for deceptive marketing practices to a maximum of $750,000 for individuals and $1 million for each subsequent order, and $10 million for corporations and $15 million for each subsequent order.
- Repeal the airline-specific provisions of the Competition Act.
The proposed amendments are the result of the April 2002 Report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology entitled A Plan to Modernize Canada's Competition Regime, as well as the June 2003 Discussion Paper prepared by the Bureau for the National Competition Act Consultations carried out by the Public Policy Forum entitled Options for Amending the Competition Act: Fostering a Competitive Marketplace.
The purpose of this document is to provide information as to developments in the law. It does not contain a full analysis of the law nor does it constitute an opinion of Ogilvy Renault or any member of the Firm on the points of law discussed.
Contacts
Paul Feuer
Toronto
416.216.1880
pfeuer@ogilvyrenault.com
Profile
Denis Gascon
Montréal
514.847.4435
dgascon@ogilvyrenault.com
Profile
Martha A. Healey
Ottawa
613.780.8638
mhealey@ogilvyrenault.com
Profile
Richard A. Wagner
Ottawa
613.780.8632
rwagner@ogilvyrenault.com
Profile
