Canadian Competition Bureau releases new Mergers Handbook and Procedures Guide

As of November 1, 2010, new internal processing deadlines apply to Canadian merger review by the Competition Bureau, pursuant to the release of the Fees and Service Standards Handbook for Mergers and Merger-Related Matters. The Handbook's release followed the release of a draft handbook in May, 2010 and extensive public consultations. A key purpose of the new Handbook is to better align the Bureau's own (non-binding) internal timelines for processing merger files (so-called "service standards") with the statutory waiting periods.

At the same time, in a related Procedures Guide for Notifiable Transactions and Advance Ruling Certificates, the Bureau has clarified that electronic merger notifications will now only be accepted between 9 am and 5 pm Eastern Time on business days for same-day receipt (the Bureau had previously accepted paper filings until 5:00 pm, but electronic filings until midnight for same-day receipt), and waiting periods that end on a weekend