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Annual Report of the Commissioner of Competition for the Year Ending March 31, 2000


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Statistical Data

Bureau Operations

In 1999-2000, the operating budget for the Bureau was $24.6 million. In addition, $3.993 million in supplementary estimates was provided for additional operating expenses and the Bureau also accessed $7.5 million in vote netted revenues from fees. The funds available to the Bureau in 1999-2000 totalled $36 million and were required to meet salary expenses for 382 authorized full time staff and to manage all operational matters.

Table 1

**Selected activities of the Competition Bureau**
	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00
Number of complaints, examinations, inquiries and advisory opinions
Total complaints/information requests	6,939	10,009	13,803
Examinations (two or more days of review)	870	601	655
Applications for inquiries under section 9	11	11	13
Inquiries in progress at year end	40	48	48
Written advisory opinions	235	75	51
Disposition of inquiries
Inquiries formally discontinued	29	21	18
Matters referred to the Attorney General of Canada	8	8	12
Matters referred where further action is not warranted	2	0	1
Prosecutions or other proceedings commenced	6	8	9
Applications to the Competition Tribunal	8	5	4
-Mergers	4	5	3
-Other reviewable practices	4	0	1
Representatives before regulatory bodies	14	15	7

**Information Centre complaint/ request total for**
99-00	98-99	97-98	96-97
47,990	42,655	37,120	42,346

Table 2

**Civil Matters — selected activities**
	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00
Number of complaints, examinations and inquiries
Total complaints/information contacts	503	819	613
Examinations commenced (two or more days of review)	41	29	43
Applications for inquiries under section 9 (six resident application to the Commissioner for inquiry)	3	4	5
Inquiries in progress at year end	5	8	10
Disposition of inquiries
Inquiries resolved by alternative case resolution	4	3	5
Applications to the Competition Tribunal	4	0	0
Discontinuances	11	6	5
Interventions
CRTC	9	8	2
Provincial	3	5	3
CITT	2	1	1
Policy work	2	1	1

Table 3

**Criminal matters — selected activities**
	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00
Number of complaints, examinations and inquiries
Total complaints/information requests	1,285	937	1,945
Examinations commenced	39	49	37
Applications for inquiries under section 9	4	7	4
Inquiries in progress at year end	20	26	22
Disposition of inquiries
Matters referred to the Attorney General of Canada	3	7	9
Matters where charges were laid	3	6	6
Matters where Attorney General declined to proceed or withdrew charges (may include matters referred during previous years)	1	0	1
Matters before the Courts (may include matters referred during previous years)	8	6	7
Disposition of prosecutions (findings of guilt, guilty pleas, acquittals, stay of proceedings, orders of prohibition - may include matters referred during previous years)	48	16	21
Other activities
Examinations resolved by information contacts	13	11	6
Written advisory opinions	12	8	7
Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) requests	0	0	1
Searches	1	5	5

Table 4

**Merger Examinations**
	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00
Examinations commenced
two or more days of review included notifiable transactions, advance ruling certificates and examinations commenced for other reasons some examinations commenced may arise from notifications and advance ruling certificate requests in relation to the same transaction	392	361	425
Notifiable Transactions	196	191	198
Advance Ruling Certificate Requests	285	226	273
Examinations Concluded
Posing No Issue Under the Act	406	346	392
With Monitoring Only	2	0	0
With Pre-closing Restructuring	0	0	2
With Post-closing Restructuring and Undertakings	3	1	6
With Consent Orders	1	2	1
Through Contested Proceedings	0	2	0
Parties Abandoned Proposed Mergers in Whole or in Part as a Result of the Commissioner's Position	0	3	1
Total Examinations Concluded (includes advance ruling certificates and advisory opinions issued and matters that have been concluded or withdrawn before the Competition Tribunal)	412	354	402
Advance Ruling Certificates Issued (included in Total Examinations Concluded)	189	238	191
Advisory Opinions Issued (included in Total Examinations Concluded)	3	7	3
Examinations Ongoing at Year-end	40	47	70
Total Examinations During the Year	452	401	472
Applications and Notices of Application before the Tribunal
Concluded or Withdrawn	2	4	1
Ongoing	2	1	2

Note: If a transaction has a notification as well as an advance ruling certificate request, it is only counted once.

**Breakdown of Mergers by Year, 1997 to 2000**
Business Line	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00
Pre-merger Notification Filing*	90	109	92
Advance Ruling Certificate Request	285	226	273
Other Examinations	17	26	60
Total Mergers	392	361	425
Asset Securitizations	72	52	64
Total Minus Securitizations	320	309	361

^{*Excludes notification when an advance ruling certificate was
requested.}

Table 5

**Misleading representations and deceptive marketing practices offences — selected activities**
	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00
Number of complaints, examinations and inquiries
Total complaints received	5,148	8,253	11,245
Applications for inquiries under section 9	3	0	4
Inquiries commenced	9	4	14
Disposition of inquiries
Completed examinations/inquiries	409	168	150
Information contacts (includes only written contacts)	218	140	110
Undertakings (terms signed off)	2	3	8
Inquiries formally discontinued
- Cases involving undertakings (discontinued inquiries involving undertakings are reported for the fiscal year in which they were discontinued; accordingly, these may not coincide with the actual number of undertakings received in any given fiscal year)	2	3	3
- Other cases	7	4	2
Matters referred to the Attorney General of Canada	6	1	3
Matters where further action is not warranted (may include matters referred during previous years)	1	0	0
Prosecutions commenced (may include matters referred during previous years)	3	2	2
Prosecutions concluded (may include matters referred during previous years)	6	5	3
- convictions	8	5	3
- non-convictions (includes conditional and absolute discharges, withdrawals, stays of proceedings, etc. It should be noted that charges against some of the accused are often withdrawn after other accused in the same case have pleaded guilty. Accordingly, there is some overlap.)	0	0	1
Application to the Competition Tribunal (Consent Orders Filed)	n/a	n/a	1
Request advisory opinions (written opinions given)	201	40	41
Total Fines ($)	$573,300	$1,402,500	$1,190,000