Landmark Private Access Changes To Competition Act Come Into Effect

Today, June 20, 2025, marks a watershed moment in Canadian competition law: private litigants gain sweeping new powers under the Competition Act, as detailed in our article "New private competition law (anti‑trust) remedies in Canada."These changes radically expand access to the Competition Tribunal. Three key reforms take effect today:

• Private parties will be able to enforce two new civil provisions of the Act: thedeceptive marketing practicesand civilanti-competitive agreementsprovisions. These are added to the recent private enforcement of the abuse of dominance provision, resulting in nearly all civil provisions of the Act being enforceable by private litigants.
• The leave test for private parties to bring enforcement actions before the Tribunal will be eased such that an applicant need only show that a part of their business is affected by the alleged anti-competitive conduct, and a new "public interest" test will be added.
• The Tribunal will have a significant new power in awarding and allocating potentially very substantial monetary awards in private party applications. These amounts can be awarded to the applicant and any other person affected by the anti-competitive conduct, and the value of the award is capped at the benefit derived from the anti-competitive conduct.

Bureau issues updated bulletin for private‑access proceedings

Coinciding with these reforms, theCompetition Bureau has released a revised Information Bulletin on Private Access to the Competition Tribunal. It sets out when and how the Commissioner may participate in private actions under the Act.

This guidance clarifies the Bureau's supporting role, explains how the Bureau may participate in a private enforcement, and emphasizes it will not routinely intervene unless a matter raises broader competitive implications or raises novel legal issues.

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