The Polish Competition Authority, which is the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (the “PCA”), has announced that, starting from 1 September 2015, it will be issuing statements of objections to undertakings and will set up an internal evaluation committee. These new tools are, in PCA’s own words, designed to “strengthen procedural…
The Full Court of the Federal Court has just handed down a very important decision in the Fair Work Inspectorate v CFMEU. The decision has very wide ramification across all industries. The Court held that in civil prosecutions, the regulator and respondent are not permitted to make joint submissions to the Court about the appropriate…
On 20 April 2015, the Dutch competition authority ACM published Guidelines on its enforcement priorities with respect to vertical restraints. The document contains a number of case studies intended to illustrate the types of cases that the ACM would or would not consider priorities for its enforcement. One case study is closely modelled on the…
Three recently announced enforcement proceedings underscore the importance of complying with the rules governing advertising and business promotions in Canada. These rules are contained in the Competition Act as well as legislation and policies governing, for example, (i) telemarketing and (ii) the use of “commercial electronic messages” to promote a business’s products and services. 1….
The Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) has recently published its draft Annual Plan for 2015/2016, its second year of operation after assuming the functions of the Competition Commission and the competition functions of the Office of Fair Trading (“OFT”) on 1 April 2014. Together with a Strategic Assessment of the risks that consumers and markets…
Canada’s Competition Bureau (the “Bureau”) has maintained its focus on trade and professional associations in 2014. This has involved not only various forms of prosecutions and proceedings but also initiatives in a growing part of the Bureau’s enforcement agenda: advocacy and compliance. A summary of 2014’s key developments is set out below. 1. The TREB…
On 10 June 2014, the Polish Parliament adopted a significant set of amendments to the Polish Competition Law Act (the “Act”). Having received Presidential approval on 30 June 2014, the amended Act is now waiting for publication. The changes are expected to come into force relatively soon. The amendments will take effect 6 months after…
I. INTRODUCTION Perhaps more than ever, tensions between suppliers and retailers have become the defining feature of the grocery industry worldwide. These tensions have also frequently formed the basis for interventions (or proposed interventions) by competition enforcement authorities in this sector. Canada is no exception to this global trend. The Canadian retail grocery industry is…
The proceedings brought by the European Commission against Google are nearing a – provisional – end with the prospect of a decision making binding on Google a revised set of commitments (see here for the Commission statement and here for the full text of the proposed commitments). Independently of their merits in addressing the Commission’s…
On February 11, 2014, the Canadian government included in its federal budget a proposed amendment to the Competition Act to prohibit unjustified price discrimination to reduce the gap between consumer prices in Canada and the United States. The Minister of Finance made clear that the Commissioner of Competition, the head of Canada’s Competition Bureau, would…
