When Is A "Sale" Not A "Sale"? Canada’s Competition Bureau Issues Its First "Ordinary Price" Decision

Apart from dealing with traditional antitrust matters such as cartels, mergers, abuse of dominance and distribution/pricing practices, Canada’s Competition Act also contains an array of provisions governing various types of misleading representations and other deceptive marketing practices. These include provisions with respect to misleading advertising, "ordinary price" claims, deceptive telemarketing, promotional contests and "pyramid" selling.

The Canadian Competition Bureau has placed misleading representations/deceptive marketing practices among its top enforcement priorities. Recently, the Bureau has paid particular attention to the Competition Act’s "ordinary selling price" ("OSP") provisions, which are intended to ensure that consumers are not misled by inflated "ordinary prices" when buying items that are advertised as being "on sale."