The Canadian Competition Bureau (“Bureau”) recently published the Consultation on Artificial Intelligence and Competition: What We Heard (“Report”), which summarizes feedback it received from its 2024 public consultation about how AI is impacting competition in Canada. The Bureau will use the insights from the submissions summarized in the Report to inform how it will protect and promote competition in Canada’s AI market.
On 23 December 2024, Canada’s Competition Bureau published draft guidelines concerning environmental claims and compliance with the Competition Act (the “Act”) for public consultation. Updated guidance on environmental claims has been much anticipated following recent amendments to the Act that explicitly prohibit greenwashing as a form of deceptive marketing.
On 24 September 2024, following an in-depth consultation with industry participants, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) and the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) published their findings concerning the use and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) by federally regulated financial institutions. The report highlighted that a significant majority of financial institutions will adopt AI by 2026, and also set out a number of key risks that arise for financial institutions from AI usage. OSFI and FCAC emphasized the need for financial institutions to adopt a dynamic and responsive risk management system with respect to AI, and confirmed their commitment to work towards more specific best practices for industry participants.
Registration for payment service providers under the new Retail Payment Activities Act is fast approaching. Individuals or entities performing retail payment activities in Canada have a 15-day window between 1 November 2024 and 15 November 2024 to submit their applications with the Bank of Canada to avoid a 60-day delay in performing their retail payment activities, a notice of violation under the Act, or significant monetary penalties. If you or your entity may be required to be registered as a payment service provider under the Retail Payment Activities Act, and you have not yet prepared your application materials, please contact us as soon as possible and we will help.
The Government of Canada has established additional avenues to administer and enforce Canadian sanctions laws. Specifically, the government is relying on the existing legislative framework under the Proceeds of Crime, Money Laundering, and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA) and its administrative agency, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) alongside the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to establish a sanctions civil enforcement regime in the form of mandatory reporting on suspected sanctions evasion for prescribed entities, importers, exporters and those financing import/export transactions.
On 20 June 2024, Bill C-59, The Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2023 (“Bill C-59”), which contains the final, and most significant in a series of, amendments to Canada’s Competition Act (the “Act”) came into effect. These amendments will make it easier for the Commissioner of Competition to take enforcement action, including by introducing structural presumptions in merger review, incentivize private parties to bring actions for all manner of civilly reviewable conduct, and broaden the scope of the Act by introducing a certificate regime for environmental competitor collaborations and a right to repair, among other things.
Changes to the capital gains inclusion rate and the employee stock option deduction rate (as proposed in Budget 2024) will apply to stock options exercised and shares sold on or after 25 June 2024. The new measure reduces the stock option deduction and capital gains tax exemption from 1/2 of the taxable amount to 1/3 of the taxable amount, if an individual’s annual combined limit of CAD 250,000 has been exceeded. The individual taxpayer can choose how to allocate the preferential tax treatment between the stock option income and capital gains to the extent the combined limit has been exceeded.
Newly proposed amendments to Bill C-59, Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2023, introduced by the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance on 2 May 2024 (“Standing Committee Amendments”), seek to further toughen rules on drip pricing (including so-called ‘junk fees’), savings claims and greenwashing under the Competition Act. The Standing Committee Amendments propose to expand on the Bill C-59 amendments to the deceptive marketing provisions of the Act
The Canadian Competition Bureau (“Bureau”) has announced a significant initiative to explore the impacts of artificial intelligence (“AI”) on competition in Canada. On 20 March 2024, the Bureau published a discussion paper, entitled “Artificial intelligence and competition”, and has requested feedback from the public. The outcome of the consultation may have significant implications for both businesses that develop and those that use AI technologies.
On March 7, 2024, Public Safety Canada updated its Guidance on the application of Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act (Supply Chains Act). Businesses operating in Canada are encouraged to review the key changes summarized below to confirm that their assessment of reporting obligations continue to align with Public Safety Canada’s Guidance. The deadline for submitting reports under the Supply Chains Act is 31 May 2024.