As the number of leniency applications is down globally and competition authorities are struggling to find alternative sources of supply for antitrust complaints, China has circulated a draft rule to financially incentivise employee whistle-blowing. On 19 November 2019, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) posted a draft of the Interim Measures on Rewards for…
Recent Developments in Canadian Cartel Enforcement: Is Business Becoming Immune to the Competition Bureau’s Immunity/Leniency Programs? Charles Tingley, Mark Katz, Anita Banicevic As noted in our July 26/19 post on Recent Developments in Canadian Merger Review, merger enforcement in Canada is already seeing the impact of the March 2019 appointment of Matthew Boswell as the…
The Regional office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Sverdlovsk region has recently issued a decision ordering a leniency applicant to return unlawfully gained income. The Appeal Board of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (the “FAS”) has now reconsidered this decision on appeal. Background of the case The ground for initiating the case was the…
The Senate has approved with minor amendments the Antitrust Bill (the “Bill”) that had been approved by the Chamber of Deputies. The Senate introduced minor amendments to a few articles of the Bill, though none of them are substantial. The amended Bill will now be considered by the Chamber of Deputies and approval is likely…
Let me get this straight from the beginning. I am not a big fan of the trend among the competition authorities to introduce whistleblowing programs. For me this seems to be rather a sign of weakness and not of strength. If other available tools (and especially the leniency program) worked well there would probably be…
In its recent draft annual plan, the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) committed itself “to further step up the pace, scale and impact of our enforcement against anticompetitive or unfair practices.” It therefore intends to increase, to at least six, the number of new civil investigations it undertakes under Chapter I of the Competition Act…
On January 20, 2016, the European Court of Justice (the Court) issued a seminal preliminary ruling on the relationship between EU and Member State leniency programmes in Case C‑428/14, DHL Express (Italy) Srl and DHL Global Forwarding (Italy) SpA v. Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM). The Court held that EU and Member…
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…
In our annual forecast of the year ahead for Canadian competition and foreign investment review law, the Davies Competition Law and Foreign Investment Group outlines the “Top 10” key issues and trends to watch for this year. 1. A Green Light for Class Actions by Indirect Purchasers The Supreme Court of Canada issued an important…
Cartel enforcement in Canada is heavily dependent on the use of informants. This is explained by two principal factors. First, cartel conduct is, by its very nature, secretive and carried out in the shadows of business life. Second, Canada’s Competition Bureau, which is responsible for investigating cartels, is subject to budget constraints that limit its…
