Exam 32: Restrictive Trade Practices

A municipality wishes to reconstruct eight kilometres of its roads.The four road contractors in the area secretly agree that only one contractor would bid (and would bid high)on the project,and later the successful bidder would divide up the work amongst them by subcontract,two kilometres each.This bid would constitute

Budget Wrench Co.sold its wrenches to a variety of retail outlets at $1 each.Stony Hardware purchased a large quantity of the wrenches and used them over a six-month period as a special advertised sale item,priced at 25 cents each.Budget Wrench Co.requested Stony Hardware to stop selling its wrenches as a "special" sale item,but Stony Hardware refused to do so.Loss leader advertising constitutes misleading advertising under the Competition Act

Budget Wrench Co.sold its wrenches to a variety of retail outlets at $1 each.Stony Hardware purchased a large quantity of the wrenches and used them over a six-month period as a special advertised sale item,priced at 25 cents each.Budget Wrench Co.requested Stony Hardware to stop selling its wrenches as a "special" sale item,but Stony Hardware refused to do so.Loss leader selling is an offence under the Competition Act.

Where a review indicates a business activity has been in restraint of competition,the Competition Tribunal will

When Bubbles Brewery Inc.agreed with Suds Brewers Ltd.to produce and bottle their beer in identical long-necked,clear glass bottles,distinct from the brown bottles used by the rest of the brewing industry

Budget Wrench Co.sold its wrenches to a variety of retail outlets at $1 each.Stony Hardware purchased a large quantity of the wrenches and used them over a six-month period as a special advertised sale item,priced at 25 cents each.Budget Wrench Co.requested Stony Hardware to stop selling its wrenches as a "special" sale item,but Stony Hardware refused to do so.Budget Wrench Co.need not sell additional supplies of wrenches to Stony Hardware,because it was selling the wrenches as a loss leader.

The enforcement of the Competition Act

Subsection 45(2)of the Competition Act enumerates certain activities which are exempt from the Act in certain circumstances.Describe these activities and indicate in which circumstances they do not violate the Act.

A Canadian firm with a highly desirable line of pharmaceutical products offers "all or nothing" to a distributor in Africa.The distributor covets one particular vaccine only but reluctantly takes the line of products in order to get the vaccine.The Canadian company has broken the law.

A provincial government wants to widen Highway 2.There are three road construction companies in the region qualified to bid on the project.The companies agree that only one company will bid and then the work will be divided amongst the three contractors.What is this an example of?

The Commissioner of Competition and Research

Restrictive trade practices subject to the Competition Act

Describe the scope and powers of the Competition Tribunal to enforce the provisions of the Competition Act.

Buns Bakery sold bread and cakes to Peggy's Grocery under an agreement whereby Peggy would not retail the goods for less than the price printed on the wrapper of the products.By their agreement,Buns Bakery would provide Peggy's Grocery with an extra 5% discount at the end of each month,based upon the volume sold at the stipulated retail price during the month.The agreement is lawful because any sale of goods for a price less than the price printed on the package would mean that Buns Bakery was falsely advertising the price of the product.

As a federal law,the Competition Act applies uniformly across Canada.

Cisco developed a carburetor for automobiles,which he called the "CiscoCarb." He advertised the carburetor in a national automobile magazine in a full page advertisement under a caption that read: "Proven Performance-80 kilometres to a litre of gas in any car." The advertisement offered the carburetor for $100 on a 30-day,money back guarantee.For the Crown to successfully obtain a conviction against Cisco under the Act,it must prove that the goods do not perform as claimed,and that Cisco was responsible for the misleading advertisement.

A manufacturer says the following to a retailer: "Sell these goods at whatever price you desire,but should you sell for less than $50 we shall supply you no more." Such a statement is legal.

Which of the following are NOT reviewable activities under the Competition Act?

Chief among the aims of the Competition Act is to prohibit conspiracies in restraint of trade,and in their place,to promote combinations within trade.

Which type of law is the Competition Act?