Coming In From the Cold of Digital Audits: The Need for Safe Harbours in the Sea of Misleading and Deceptive Marketing

Abstract

In the Canadian regime, offences in respect of which a deferred prosecution agreement (remediation agreement) may be entered into are set out in the legislation and encompass a wide range of Criminal Code offences in the area of financial crimes. The list is contained in a schedule to PART XXII.1 Remediation Agreements and includes a list of offences under the Criminal Code and the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act. No offences under the Competition Act are listed or subject to the deferred prosecution scheme. See Jull and Spadotto, client alert, "Compliance Now Counts in Antitrust" Gardiner Roberts July 12, 2019. Note that one technique to deal with this omission is the use of section 34 prohibition orders. This might be described as a deferred prosecution through the back door. See https://www.canada.ca/en/competitionbureau/news/2020/03/third-engineering-firm-to-pay-750000-in-settlement-for-quebec-bid-rigging.html 9 Immunity and Leniency Programs under the Competition Act