Commissioner Clarifies Bureau’s Approach To Efficiencies

Speaking at the Canadian Bar Association’s Annual Fall Conference on Competition Law, Sheridan Scott, Commissioner of Competition, offered new insights to the Bureau’s approach to efficiencies in merger analysis. Most significantly, the Commissioner stated that the Bureau "would not necessarily require recourse to the [Competition] Tribunal in a case where the efficiencies resulting from the merger would clearly be greater than and offset any anti-competitive effects; rather, while our experience suggests that such cases are rare, we could, if sufficiently satisfied on the evidence, make our own independent assessment of efficiencies, and clear the merger on that basis."¹ In that regard, the Commissioner urged parties to make efficiencies submissions and "not to be deterred by an unfounded notion that to do so is somehow an admission of anti-competitive concern."