On November 20, 2012, amendments to the Criminal Code of Canada under the Safe Streets and Communities Act (the SCCA) came into force, restricting the availability of conditional sentences for individuals convicted of certain offences, including conspiracy to fix prices and bid-rigging under the Competition Act. Conditional sentences are non-custodial punishments, such as house arrest, that may only be assessed where the judge determines the offender is not a danger to the community. While these amendments were not specifically directed at Competition Act offences, the result of the legislative changes is to eliminate the discretion to allow for serving custodial sentences for serious Competition Act offences in the community.

The SCCA, introduced in 2011, included a slate of amendments to the Criminal Code and other legislation which the Department of Justice stated were intended to "combat crime and terrorism". Among other things, the SCCA provides that conditional sentences are unavailable for all offences for which the law prescribes a maximum term of imprisonment of 14 years or more – this includes cartel agreements among competitors, bid-rigging and willful or deceitful misleading advertising under the Competition Act.

The sentencing changes now in effect under the SCCA follow upon sweeping amendments to the Competition Act in March 2009, which, among other changes, created a per se cartel offence (in effect since March 2010, which prohibits agreements among competitors to fix prices, allocate markets or limit production, whether or not such an agreement had an impact on competition in a relevant market) and increased the maximum punishment for offences such as price-fixing, bid-rigging and willful or deceitful false advertising from five to 14 years.

The new sentencing regime should also be considered in light of the dissatisfaction recently expressed by the Federal Court with joint sentencing recommendations for fines as part of agreements to plead guilty with respect to criminal offences under the Competition Act. In R. v Maxzone Auto Parts (Canada) Corp., a case involving a charge of criminal conspiracy under section 46 of the Competition Act (implementation of a foreign directed cartel), Chief Justice Crampton of the Federal Court observed that "... achieving effective general and specific deterrence requires that individuals face a very real prospect of serving time in prison if they are convicted for having engaged in such conduct". Finding that past practice gave rise to "understandable expectations" regarding sentencing, the Chief Justice "reluctantly" imposed the jointly recommended sentence of a substantial fine in that case.

A move toward custodial sentences for criminal convictions under the Competition Act may have far-reaching implications for the Competition Bureau's enforcement regime, including participation in its Leniency Program, whereby an accused agrees to cooperate with an investigation in exchange for a prosecutorial recommendation of more lenient treatment. The removal of conditional sentences (and judicial discontent over fines instead of prison terms) may well discourage participation in the program, as accused persons weigh the risks of what "leniency" may entail. Indeed, if jail time is seen as the likely result of criminal conviction for competition offences, there may well be less cooperation, fewer guilty pleas and more contested trials on the horizon in Canada.

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