Effective May 1, 2018, merging parties will need to dig deeper to cover the fee that must be paid
when filing a pre-merger notification or seeking an advance ruling
certificate under the Competition Act. The fee is jumping from
$50,000 to $72,000.
In justifying the increase, the Competition Bureau argues that the fee has not
increased since 2003, and had the fee been adjusted annual for
inflation, it would currently be approximately $65,500. They also
suggested that additional funds are required given the increase in
the number of transactions considered "complex" and the
considerable resources that are required to evaluate those
matters.
Additional details of their proposal were described in a
previous
post and the Bureau's announcement of the new fees can be
found here.
