On June 23, 2023, amendments to the Canadian Competition Act (Act) took effect which now make it a per se criminal offence for unaffiliated employers to agree, conspire or arrange to: “Fix, maintain, decrease or control salaries, wages or terms and conditions of employment” (wage-fixing agreements); or “Not solicit or hire each other’s employees” (no-poach/non-solicit…
A new era of cartel enforcement Competition authorities worldwide have historically focused on investigating classic cartel practices, such as price fixing, market sharing, and exchanging commercially sensitive information. These practices are primarily investigated in traditional markets, such as pharmaceuticals, technology, and retail. However, in recent years, an increasing number of antitrust agencies have been focusing…
Competition authorities globally continue to focus attention on potential anticompetitive conduct affecting labour markets, with a particular emphasis on “wage-fixing” and “no-poaching” agreements. Although Canada was somewhat late in addressing this issue, the federal government has now passed amendments to the Canadian Competition Act that criminalize wage-fixing and no-poaching agreements between parties. In enacting this…
The labor market has gradually increased its place on the agenda of competition law, especially in the last ten years. No-poaching agreements (agreements between competitors to not transfer employees from each other) come first among the elements that constitute the subject of competition law in the labor market. Like the other competition authorities, the Turkish…
In a speech on 22 October 2021, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager revealed that the European Commission was planning a series of dawn raids for the months to come. She highlighted that the European Commission is not just looking to investigate traditional cartels, like price-fixing agreements, but also other types of anti-competitive conduct – such…
