Clarifying Canada´s New Two-Stage Merger Review Process: The Competition Bureau Publishes Its Final Merger Review Process Guidelines

On September 18, 2009, the Competition Bureau published its final Merger Review Process Guidelines, which describe the Bureau's approach to Canada's new two-stage merger review process adopted following the March 2009 amendments to the Competition Act.¹ The amendments to the merger provisions created a single form of pre-merger notification with a single, 30-day initial waiting period (eliminating the former "short-form" and "long-form" notifications and their corresponding 14- and 42-day waiting periods). The Commissioner of Competition was also granted the power to issue supplementary information requests ("SIRs") within that initial 30-day period, extending the review period until 30 days following compliance with the SIR.