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ARTICLE · 24 JANUARY 2024

New Excessive And Unfair Pricing Provisions In Force In Canada's Competition Act: Risk And Compliance Considerations

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Canada's Competition Act was amended effective December 15, 2023 to both (i) establish a new, more expansive framework for challenging anti-competitive conduct by dominant firms...

CanadaAntitrust/Competition Law
John Bodrug
John Bodrug
Umang Khandelwal
Umang Khandelwal
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Canada's Competition Act was amended effective December 15, 2023 to both (i) establish a new, more expansive framework for challenging anti-competitive conduct by dominant firms and (ii) specifically provide that it is an anti-competitive act for a dominant firm to directly or indirectly impose excessive and unfair selling prices.

As discussed in our recent bulletin, the new framework for abuse of dominance applies a different test depending on the remedy sought.

  • To obtain an order from the Competition Tribunal (Tribunal) prohibiting the dominant entity or entities from engaging in the challenged conduct, the Commissioner of Competition (Commissioner), the head of the Competition Bureau, or a private litigant who has obtained leave now needs to establish only that (i) a firm is dominant (or a group of firms is jointly dominant) and (ii) the firm(s) engaged in a practice of anti-competitive acts.1

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