Annual Report 1994/95 - Substantial Resources Devoted to Compliance and Education

Our programs to encourage compliance with the Act continue to be a key activity of the Bureau.

In last year's Annual Report I stated that I intended to issue a consultation paper on the confidentiality provisions of the Act. A draft was released in July 1994, and dealt with the treatment of information in the Director's possession and the ability of the Director to share information with foreign antitrust authorities.

I received extensive comments on the document reflecting a broad range of legal interpretations. Given the importance of effective transborder competition law enforcement and the questions that have been raised as to my present ability to co-operate with foreign antitrust authorities, I intend to recommend to the Minister that there be legislative amendments to clearly articulate my statutory authority in this area 6.

Similarly, I indicated last year that I intended to issue an information bulletin on the subject of strategic alliances and their treatment under the Act. On August 26, 1994, I issued a discussion paper on the subject. I received many comments on the document and subsequently circulated a revised draft to a limited group of interested parties in January 1995. I hope to release the final version of the Information Bulletin during the 1995-96 year.

I have continued to emphasize the importance of compliance and education with a particular emphasis on the Public Education Initiative (PEI). I have been speaking about our activities, as have other Bureau managers, at a total of 33 events in the past year. In fact, we have created a Speakers Bureau with staff available to provide speeches and information sessions on aspects of the Act to groups and organizations. In addition, we have created a PEI booth which has been used at a number of trade shows. At year end, there were seven pamphlets in the series, You, Your Business and the Competition Act. A complete listing appears on page 65. In the upcoming year, I intend to commence a companion series on issues of interest to consumers.

I am very pleased to see the growing interest among Canadian companies in establishing in-house compliance programs. I intend in the upcoming year to issue a bulletin on the subject which will describe my views of the essential components of such programs and on the approach to monitoring and audit functions.