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

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Interacting with Canadians

The Competition Bureau routinely monitors the marketplace and regularly visits businesses, industry and stakeholders. It also relies on Canadians to come forward with information about suspected anti-competitive activities.

The Bureau has a highly effective Information Centre, often the first contact many members of the public have with the Bureau. Officers staff a 1-800 line from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. (EST), answering questions, recording complaints and directing calls. In 1999-2000, the centre received 47 975 enquiries, 2542 of which came in through the Internet. Staff treat all enquiries as confidential and quickly pass all relevant issues on to the appropriate branch.

Communicating with Canadians

Communication continues to be an essential part of the Bureau's work. The Bureau believes that good communication heightens awareness of the Bureau's role and encourages businesses to comply with the law. Within the Bureau, the Communications Directorate works with all branches to ensure a coordinated and consistent approach.

Photo Credit: Eugene Besruky

To find out what Canadian businesses and the public think about the way the Bureau communicates with them, the Bureau held focus groups in Toronto and Montréal and conducted a nation-wide survey. The results of this research, carried out in March 2000, will help the Bureau to make its communication efforts more effective and efficient.

The Web Site

The Bureau's Web site is its main communication tool; over the course of 1999, traffic nearly doubled in volume to about 2000 hits per day. The site allows interested stakeholders to be immediately informed of decisions, Bureau activities and news releases, and gives quick access to legislation, Bureau policies and guidelines. More than 1500 people subscribe to the site and are notified immediately of new information. This service is available to anyone, in Canada or abroad, who is interested in the activities of the Competition Bureau.

In October, the Bureau launched a new section of the site on gasoline prices in Canada. It outlines the Bureau's role in this area and details its activities since 1986.

The Bureau is also making it easier for Canadians to access information and apply for certain products through electronic commerce applications. Bureau pamphlets, speeches and other information products are available from the Web site. Consumers and businesses can also make enquiries and complaints using the Bureau's on-line form, apply and pay for Textile CA numbers under the Textile Labelling
Act, and request and pay for advisory opinions under any provision of the Competition Act. As well, the Bureau will soon offer merging firms the ability to make prenotification filings on-line using advanced and secure encryption technologies.

Y2K

This year, the Bureau devoted considerable effort to preparing for the rollover to the Year 2000. Information technology staff ensured that all Bureau hardware and software were Y2K-compliant, and worked through the critical period to ensure a smooth transition. The Bureau was also an active participant in Industry Canada's business continuity planning exercise, which identified critical functions and developed plans to ensure continued delivery of services in the event of disruption. The contingency plans arising from these efforts will also be useful in the event of other emergency-related service disruptions.

Telemarketing Education Initiative

In the past year, the Bureau's Information Centre distributed 3114 pamphlets on deceptive telemarketing practices (1454 Deceptive Telemarketing pamphlets and 1660 Stop Phone Fraud, It's a Trap pamphlets) and 58 videos (31 Scam Alert tapes and 27 Stop Phone Fraud, It's a Trap videos). The Bureau also distributed this material through partners who provided educational seminars on deceptive telemarketing practices to various groups and associations. The pamphlets are also posted on the Bureau's Web site and the videos can be obtained free of charge from the Information Centre.

Speeches

Bureau representatives delivered speeches on a variety of topics this past year, including the new provisions of the Competition Act, the application of the Act to particular industries, trends in fines, proposed changes to the Bureau's immunity policy, international enforcement cooperation, deceptive telemarketing, and advertising on the Internet. For a complete listing of speeches delivered by Bureau staff, please visit our Web site (http://www.cb-bc.gc.ca). Click on Publications and Speeches.

In addition, Bureau staff published a number of articles in academic journals; examples are listed in Appendix II.

Information and Warnings

The Bureau periodically issues news releases or information notices alerting the public to potential illegal or misleading activities in the marketplace. In 1999?2000, the Bureau warned Canadians about lottery scams, pyramid schemes, jewellery purchases and "scratch-and-win" promotions.

As well, the Bureau published four information bulletins outlining the Commissioner's approach to enforcing key new provisions of the Competition Act that came into effect on March 18, 1999, as follows:

• Misleading Representations and Deceptive Marketing Practices: Choice of Criminal or Civil Track Under the Competition Act
• Telemarketing Section 52.1 of the Competition Act
• Ordinary Price Claims: Subsections 74.01(2) and 74.01(3) of the Competition Act
• Interception of Private Communications and the Competition Act.

The bulletins include guidelines drafted in consultation with stakeholders and consumer interest groups. Copies may be obtained by calling the Information Centre at 1 800 348-5358 or (819) 997-4282. News releases, information notices and bulletins are available on the Bureau's Web site (http://www.cb-bc.gc.ca).