Canada Ends Automatic Immunity for Price-Fixing Officers, Employees

Canada eliminated automatic immunity for participants that alert authorities to price-fixing cartels, a change competition lawyers say could discourage companies from voluntarily reporting.

The change “will enhance Canada’s ability to detect, investigate and prosecute unlawful conduct that may violate the criminal provisions of the Competition Act,” the Competition Bureau and the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) said Sept. 27. The new policy applies to corporate directors, officers, and employees.

To avoid prosecution, cartel informants now must show their knowledge of or participation in illegal activity and continue to cooperate with authorities. That allows them to be considered for immunity, ...