Penalties Skyrocket For Misleading Advertising In Canada

Major changes to Canadian misleading advertising legislation were passed and largely went into force on June 23, 2022. In addition to strengthening the prohibitions against abuse of dominance and merger reviews, major changes have been implemented to the prohibitions against misleading advertising, including significant increases to statutory penalties.

Fines up to 3% of Global Revenue

Maximum fines for any kind of misleading advertised have skyrocketed to up to the greater of:

(a) $10 million ($15 million for each subsequent violation) or

(b) three times the value of the benefit obtained from the deceptive conduct.

Where the benefit obtained cannot be "reasonably determined", the maximum penalty could instead be up to 3% of annual worldwide gross revenues.