Competition Bureau Releases Final Merger Efficiencies Bulletin

In March, 2009, the Competition Bureau released in final form a Bulletin to provide "practical guidance" on the Bureau's approach to "efficiencies" claims in mergers, as provided for in section 96 of the Competition Act (the Act). In particular, the Bulletin addresses the information required and the analytical approach to be used to determine when the Bureau will refrain from challenging on a merger on the grounds that the efficiency gains likely to be brought about by the merger will be greater than and will offset the anticompetitive effects likely to arise from it. The Bulletin, released in draft for public comment in August 2008, is said to supplement the discussion of efficiencies in the Bureau's Merger Enforcement Guidelines (revised in 2004), commonly known as the MEGs.