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______________________________________________________________________________Stewart McKelveyDoing Business in Atlantic Canadaissue injunctions and remedial orders preventing practices that are likely to substantially reducecompetition.The Competition Act also establishes a number of trade practices and activities which can be reviewed bythe Competition Tribunal. These activities include the refusal by a supplier to sell its product to anotherparty, consignment selling, exclusive dealing, market restrictions, tied selling, abuse of dominant positionand delivered pricing. Administrative monetary penalties of up to $10-million for the first offence and upto $15-million for subsequent offences have been recently introduced for abuse of dominant positionoffences.The other major reviewable activity under the Competition Act is mergers, which are defined very broadlyas involving the acquisition of control over or significant interest in the whole or part of a business of acompetitor, supplier, customer or other person, whether directly or indirectly and whether by share orasset purchase or by amalgamation or otherwise. If the Tribunal determines that a merger or proposedmerger prevents or lessens competition substantially, or is likely to do so, it may order that the merger bedissolved or not proceeded with, or allow it to proceed under certain conditions.Large proposed mergers are subject to notification requirements which must be satisfied before themergers can be completed. Mergers requiring notification to the Commissioner of Competition are thosewhere the parties have assets in Canada that exceed $400-million in aggregate value, or annual grossrevenues from sales in, from or into Canada that exceed $400-million. Additionally, the size of thetransaction must exceed $70-million, either in terms of the value of the assets being acquired or theannual gross revenues that would be generated by the transaction. As well, in the case of sharepurchase transactions, the proposed transaction must result in the acquiror holding at least 20% of theshares of a public corporation or 35% of the shares of a private corporation. There are additional rulesthat apply for amalgamations and joint ventures.The notification procedure involves completing either a short-form or long-form filing and paying a filingfee of $50,000. It is also possible to apply for an Advanced Ruling Certificate as an alternative to filingthe short-form or long-form filings.In considering if a merger or proposed merger will substantially lessen competition, the CompetitionTribunal is required to consider a number of factors including the extent to which foreign products orforeign competitors provide or are likely to provide effective competition to the businesses of the parties tothe merger or proposed merger; whether the business, or a part of the business, of a party to the mergeror proposed merger has failed or is likely to fail; the extent to which acceptable substitutes for productssupplied by the parties to the merger or proposed merger are or are likely to be available; any barriers toentry into a market, including tariff and non-tariff barriers to international trade and any effect of themerger or proposed merger on such barriers; the extent to which effective competition remains or wouldremain in a market that is or would be affected by the merger or proposed merger; any likelihood that themerger or proposed merger will or would result in the removal of a vigorous and effective competitor; thenature and extent of change and innovation in a relevant market; and any other factor that is relevant tocompetition in a market that is or would be affected by the merger or proposed merger.Pursuant to recent amendments to the Competition Act, the initial review period is now 30 days for allmatters. If the Competition Bureau requires further information in order to make its determination, thereview period will be extended for an additional 30 days commencing only after the parties fully complywith the Bureau’s request for additional information.Further, the time period during which post-merger challenges by the Competition Bureau can be madehas been recently reduced from three years to one year.Product Standards and CodesProducts and services in Canada are subject to numerous technical standards which set minimumrequirements for safety or performance. Many of these standards have been developed by industryassociations on a voluntary basis. Federal and provincial governments have also established manyPage 27