Competitor Collaborations During The COVID-19 Pandemic: Issues Under The Competition Act

The Competition Act is federal legislation that governs most business conduct in Canada. The role of the Competition Bureau is to prevent and deter anti-competitive behaviour and deceptive marketing practices, review mergers to ensure they do not lessen or prevent competition substantially in any market, empower Canadian consumers and businesses, and promote competitive markets across Canada.

The COVID-19 pandemic has up-ended markets worldwide, leading to massive shifts in supply and demand, information asymmetry and other disconnects in markets, and significant market uncertainty, all of which has changed, and will continue in the near future to change, the competitive dynamics of affected markets. These changes may trigger conduct by market participants that may raise concerns under the Competition Act, including in particular, conspiracies between competitors to fix prices for the supply of a product, allocate markets or restrict the supply of a product (e.g.,