Competition Bureau Launches Public Consultation And Publishes Digest On Greenwashing Provisions

On June 20, 2024, the Government of Canada passed Bill C-59 amending certain provisions in the Competition Act (the "Act"). In particular, in an effort to protect consumers from misleading advertisements related to a product's or business' environmental benefits, new provisions were added to target greenwashing. Miller Thomson recently posted a bulletin in their series on amendments to the Act, entitled: Amendments to the Competition Act – Bill C-59 and its impact on "Greenwashing".

On July 22, 2024, the Competition Bureau (the "Bureau") published Volume 7 of its Deceptive Marketing Practices Digest (the "Digest"), which outlines its interpretation of certain greenwashing provisions. The Bureau also released a public consultation related to the Act's new Greenwashing provisions. The stated goal of this public consultation is to provide enforcement guidance in consultation with Canadians to ensure transparency and predictability. The Bureau advised that it is