Bureau's Decision To Launch Merger Register Raises Confidentiality Issues Under The Competition Act

On February 6, 2012, the Competition Bureau announced that as part of its efforts to increase transparency in the merger review process it will begin publishing monthly reports of concluded mergers.  The first report, for the month of February, will be published in March and will appear as a table with information on the parties to the transaction, the industry, and the result (i.e. whether the merger was concluded following the issuance of an Advanced Ruling Certificate (ARC) under section 102 of the Competition Act, the issuance of a "No-action Letter", the registration of a consent agreement, or a judicial decision). 

The Bureau's decision to publish a list of completed merger reviews comes after its previously announced decision to discontinue issuing detailed backgrounders on the facts of particular cases. Such backgrounders had been sporadic, and subject to permission by the parties to reveal non-public information, but had been helpful in shedding light on