Annual Report 1997/98 - Introduction

A First | The Conformity Continuum | Overview

A First

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This annual report offers a general perspective of the Competition Bureau's work for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1998, and outlines our current and future role in the Canadian marketplace.

Rather than reporting cases, programs, policies and projects under the traditional organizational branches and divisions of the Bureau, we have grouped our activities under four themes, which are the operational objectives of the Bureau: informing Canadians, promoting competition, reviewing mergers and fighting anti-competitive activity.

In keeping with our commitment to inform Canadians, the report focusses on the impact our work has had on business and the marketplace, rather than on strictly "legal" reporting. We will continue, however, to make statistical data and legal reference material available electronically on the Bureau's Web site.

The Conformity Continuum

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The Bureau bases all of its operations on an approach aimed at ensuring maximum conformity with the law. Although important elements of this policy have been in place for many years, they have been integrated into what we now refer to as the conformity continuum. The continuum consists of a variety of compliance and enforcement tools, including: public education in the form of guidelines, pamphlets and conferences; oral and written advisory opinions; information contacts; voluntary codes of conduct; written undertakings; prohibition orders; civil proceedings before the Competition Tribunal; and prosecution in the criminal courts. Our choice of responses depends on a variety of factors, including the gravity of an alleged infraction, previous anti-competitive conduct, the willingness of the parties to resolve the matter, and Bureau priorities. We are mindful of the need to use limited resources wisely; however, we also cannot ignore the need to deter serious and deliberate misconduct.

The Bureau's conformity approach rests on the belief that most businesspeople want to operate within the law, and that the vast majority are willing to comply. We will ensure that the business community continues to enjoy easy access to the Bureau by making public as much of our policies, guidelines and approach to enforcement as the law will permit.

However, this approach is not intended to imply that we will be lenient with those who engage in serious anti-competitive conduct. In civil matters, where reasonable solutions cannot be worked out by consent orders or other means, we will not hesitate to go before the Competition Tribunal. In cases where there appear to be allegations of serious violations of the criminal provisions, the Bureau will refer cases to the Attorney General of Canada for prosecution.

Overview

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The following is a brief overview of the information contained in this annual report.

One of the Bureau's key objectives is to keep Canadians informed. In keeping with this goal, the Bureau's Web site has undergone a significant overhaul and provides a new feature. Canadians can now request information or register a complaint on-line via the Information Centre. Using the Internet is now the primary vehicle by which the Bureau informs and educates. See Section 2, "Informing Canadians," for a detailed description of our various communications initiatives.

Under the Competition Act, the Bureau, through the Director of Investigation and Research, has the authority to make representations before federal and provincial boards, commissions and tribunals. Invoking this status, the Bureau has intervened in a number of instances during the past fiscal year.

On several occasions, we have appeared before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to advocate, among other things, deregulating long-distance telephone rates, and opening up the local pay phone market to competition.

As well, we have played a crucial role before the Ontario Energy Board and the Ontario Ministryof Energy, Science and Technology in the proposed restructuring of the province's electricity system to open competition. The Bureau continues to provide advice to Ontario government officials who are revising related regulatory legislation, as Ontario moves towards further deregulation in its natural gas market. For an in-depth look at our intervention work, please see Section 3, "Promoting Competition."

The merger trend that the Bureau faced during the past year is one that continues to impact on the Canadian marketplace. Section 4, "Reviewing Mergers," will explain in detail the review activities undertaken by Bureau staff.

Under the authority of the Director of Investigation and Research, the Bureau administers the misleading advertising and deceptive marketing provisions of the Competition Act, as well as the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act, the Precious Metals Marking Act and the Textile Labelling Act. One of the more high-profile projects undertaken using this authority concerned an international collaboration that targeted Internet Web sites that contained potentially misleading descriptions of business opportunities. For information on this and other initiatives, see Section 5, "Fighting Anti-competitive Activity."

Bill C-20, an Act to amend the Competition Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts, was tabled in the House of Commons on November 20, 1997. This bill was the reintroduction of the former Bill C-67 (with some modifications), which died on the Order Paper on April 27, 1997, when the federal government called an election.

For a detailed account of the amendments, see Section 6 "Proposed Amendments Seek to Modernize Canada's Competition Legal Framework." The background material that accompanied the tabling of the legislation can be found on the Bureau's Web site.