


Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment
COMPETITION & ANTITRUST LAW
Companies operating in today’s global economy face a highly complicated world. All major governments have enacted competition laws—and regulators are aggressively enforcing them with penalties that can have a material impact on a company’s performance.
These laws and enforcement regimes, as well as increasingly elaborate and concentrated business structures, create a highly complex legal environment. Trade and investment agreements between nations can complicate matters even further, creating not only ambiguity, but also the potential for inadvertent breaches of the law.
McMillan’s experienced and highly ranked Competition and Antitrust Group helps clients in virtually every industry to navigate this maze of regulations. Our lawyers are highly rated by Canadian (Lexpert, Best Lawyers in Canada) and International (Chambers, Who’s Who Legal, Global Competition Review 100, Expert Guides (Euromoney) observers. We are very active in national and international organizations, including the Canadian Bar Association (CBA), the American Bar Association (ABA), the International Bar Association (IBA), and the International Competition Network (ICN).
COMPETITION & POLICY ADVOCACY
While companies must ensure that they operate in compliance with applicable competition laws, they may also advocate for changes to improve the law and policy framework. McMillan’s Competition Group leverages our deep understanding of competition law and our hands-on experience with many regulatory regimes when competition law or enforcement policy changes are being considered, creating a more positive environment for our clients.
Our name is synonymous with best practices in public policy advocacy to influence competition law. McMillan founded the Competition Policy Group, a multi-industry group that actively participates in the major Competition Act reform processes and stakeholder consultations conducted in Canada by the Competition Bureau. Internationally, McMillan co-founded and led the Merger Streamlining Group, a group of multinational competition law firms advocating for more effective and efficient merger review regimes. The Group’s submissions have contributed to positive public policy changes to competition law in several jurisdictions in addition to Canada, including Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Germany, India, Korea and Japan.
CARTELS
Canada boasts some of the world’s toughest anti-cartel laws, which prohibit companies in the same industry from agreeing to keep prices artificially high to limit competition. As one of Canada’s most highly regarded antitrust and cartel competition law firms, McMillan is home to experienced antitrust lawyers, who have litigated some of the most significant cartels in recent Canadian history.
McMillan’s competition lawyers assist companies facing potential cartel-related prosecution. From a preventative standpoint, we help clients remain in compliance with the law. If a client is the subject of an investigation or prosecution, we help assess all options including seeking immunity or leniency under the relevant Competition Bureau programs, or defending against criminal and/or civil proceedings. In addition to criminal proceedings, companies may also be susceptible to class action proceedings brought by consumers. Both criminal and civil cases often have a cross-border component and are enforced by multiple competition authorities working together. Whatever path is chosen, our goal is to protect the interests of our clients.
FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW
Canadian companies in a variety of industries are attractive prospects for international investors. Like most countries, Canada applies a measure of control over investments made in domestic industries by foreign entities under the Investment Canada Act, The Act ensures direct foreign investment does not unduly impact the competitive environment in any given industry.
International companies seeking to invest in Canadian enterprises, along with the targets of these acquisitions, require legal counsel with significant expertise with the process. McMillan’s Competition and Antitrust Group has deep experience navigating the rules, regulations and processes that govern such transactions. We work with foreign companies in a wide range of industries as they seek to acquire Canadian entities, and with Canadian companies that are the subjects of potential acquisitions by foreign investors.
As recognized experts in foreign investment law, McMillan excels at helping national and global businesses by advising on the application of the Investment Canada Act; providing guidance through the regulatory review process; negotiating appropriate undertakings to achieve approval; obtaining ministerial opinions regarding non-reviewability; and providing counsel to governmental agencies and regulators.
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC & TRADE SANCTIONS
International economic and trade sanctions are directed against individuals, companies and countries that engage in money laundering, military activity, terrorism, the development and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, human rights abuses and other corruption. Economic sanctions and international law restrictions can take the form of limitations on trade or other economic activity, as well as the seizure or freezing of property. There are also extensive anti-money laundering laws that attempt to restrict cross-border flows of the profits from criminal activities.
McMillan’s international trade lawyers assist companies navigate the restrictions posed by international economic and trade sanctions by creating and implementing processes and governance models to ensure compliance with Canadian and other economic and trade sanctions as well as money laundering laws; assisting companies in obtaining government permits and rulings to authorize otherwise prohibited transactions; advising importers and exporters on making voluntary disclosures to avoid Administrative Monetary Penalties, detainments, seizures or ascertained forfeitures of goods and related criminal charges; providing representation in proceedings and appeals before governmental bodies, tribunals and courts; and preparing and submiting notifications of communications to the Attorney General of Canada under FEMA.
Primary Contacts
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INSIGHTS (128 Posts)
2021 Canadian Merger Notification and Investment Canada Act Review Thresholds Decrease
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Feb 12, 2021
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Deferred Prosecution Agreements: The Continued Use of DPAs in the Antitrust Sphere in the United States
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Jan 19, 2021
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Do Not Go Directly to Jail – Just Yet Anyway: Competition Bureau Confirms its View that Buy-Side Agreements between Competitors are not Criminally Unlawful
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Nov 30, 2020
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Canada Enters into Cooperation Framework with the Competition Enforcement Agencies of the “Five Eyes” Countries
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Sep 28, 2020
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Canada Orders Temporary Extension of National Security Review Periods Under the Investment Canada Act
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Aug 12, 2020
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Competition Bureau Invites Comments to Revisions to the Competitor Collaboration Guidelines
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Aug 5, 2020
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Cooperating Witnesses not Confidential Informers – Competition Bureau Updates Immunity and Leniency Programs under the Competition Act
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Jul 20, 2020
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Privacy Penalties – Canadian Competition Bureau Wades Into Privacy Enforcement
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May 26, 2020
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Need to Collaborate with Competitors to Respond to the COVID Crisis? Competition Bureau is Ready to Provide Guidance
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Apr 13, 2020
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Opportunities in Challenging Times: The Failing Firm Provision of Canada’s Competition Act
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Mar 30, 2020
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Under the Influence: The Canadian Competition Bureau’s Stand on Misleading Product Endorsements
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Dec 30, 2019
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YVR Makes Safe Landing: Competition Bureau Abuse of Dominance Case against the Vancouver Airport Authority is Dismissed
Nov 12, 2019
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A Roundtable with the Commissioner – Thoughts on effective engagement with the Competition Bureau
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May 3, 2018
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Canada Announces the Creation of the Remediation Agreement Regime and Improvements to the Integrity Regime to Tackle Corporate Crime
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Mar 29, 2018
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Proposed Changes to the Competition Bureau’s Immunity Program Will Undermine Effective Cartel Enforcement in Canada – Comments of McMillan LLP on the Consultation Draft dated October 26, 2017
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Jan 1, 2018
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Government of Canada Announces Public Consultation regarding Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs)
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Oct 13, 2017
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Bill C-49: Government of Canada Proposes to Amend the Canada Transportation Act
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May 16, 2017
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FCPA Declination Letters and Corporate Criminal Liability: What Can Be Learned From the U.S. Approach
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Apr 28, 2017
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Can They Keep a Secret? Competition Bureau Issues Draft Bulletin on Information Requests from Third Parties
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Mar 14, 2017
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Back to Basics: Acting Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen presents near-term FTC reforms
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Feb 9, 2017
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Government of Canada Provides Valuable Guidance on National Security Review of Foreign Investment in Canada
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Jan 3, 2017
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Canada Finalizes Changes to Nutrition Labelling Requirements for Packaged Foods
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Dec 30, 2016
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Impacts of the Supreme Court’s Decision in R v Anthony-Cook on the Certainty of Plea Agreements and Jointly Proposed Sentencing
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Nov 14, 2016
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Government Announces Changes in Foreign Ownership Rules for Canadian Airlines – ‘Change in Fact’?
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Nov 7, 2016
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In this Great Future, You Can’t Forget Your Past – Update to the Government of Canada’s Integrity Regime Provides Clarity, Includes General Anti-Avoidance Provisions
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Apr 6, 2016
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Final Report: Canada Transportation Act Review – Part II (Rail Freight Traffic)
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Apr 6, 2016
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Deal Me Out: Clarifying the Test for Leave in Competition Act Refusal to Deal Cases
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Jan 28, 2016
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Fraud in Regulated Settings: Detrimental Reliance by the Victim not always Required
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Jan 21, 2016
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Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) Revises its Policy on Canadian Customs Voluntary Disclosures
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Oct 2, 2015
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Top 10 Tips for Introducing and Maintaining Effective Competition Law Compliance Programs
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Jul 15, 2015
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Competition Bureau’s Draft Intellectual Property Enforcement Guidelines Provide Welcome Clarity on Bureau Treatment of Intellectual Property
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Jul 2, 2015
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Commissioner of Competition Introduces Revised Compliance Programs Bulletin at McMillan Event
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Jun 3, 2015
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Changes to Investment Canada Act Thresholds, Filing Requirements, and National Security Review Thresholds
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May 15, 2015
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The Supreme Court Finds that Certain Search and Production Provisions of Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Legislation are Inapplicable to Legal Counsel
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Feb 17, 2015
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Tervita Corp v Canada – The Supreme Court of Canada’s First Merger Decision in 17 Years: An Efficient Outcome
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Jan 31, 2015
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Canadian Cartel News Volume 6 What Fresh Hell is This? The Canadian Cartel Class Action System
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Jan 18, 2015
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Canadian Cartel News Volume 5
One Place Where Possession is not Nine Tenths of the Law
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Jan 17, 2015
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Staying Out of the Crosshairs – Keeping On Top of Russia Related Economic Sanctions
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Nov 21, 2014
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Corporate directors beware – Canada passes tough amendments to anti-corruption legislation
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Jul 2, 2013
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Cooperating Firm Agrees to Penalty Equal to 5 Times the Amount of Foreign Bribe
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Jan 22, 2013
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Canada continues to welcome foreign investment with Investment Canada Act changes
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Sep 30, 2012
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