Competition Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-34)

Marginal note:Agreements or arrangements of federal financial institutions

• 49 (1) Subject to subsection (2), every federal financial institution that makes an agreement or arrangement with another federal financial institution with respect to

  • (a) the rate of interest on a deposit,

  • (b) the rate of interest or the charges on a loan,

  • (c) the amount or kind of any charge for a service provided to a customer,

  • (d) the amount or kind of a loan to a customer,

  • (e) the kind of service to be provided to a customer, or

  • (f) the person or classes of persons to whom a loan or other service will be made or provided or from whom a loan or other service will be withheld,

  and every director, officer or employee of the federal financial institution who knowingly makes such an agreement or arrangement on behalf of the federal financial institution is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to a fine not exceeding ten million dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to both.

• Marginal note:Exceptions

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of an agreement or arrangement

  • (a) with respect to a deposit or loan made or payable outside Canada;

  • (b) applicable only in respect of the dealings of or the services rendered between federal financial institutions or by two or more federal financial institutions as regards a customer of each of those federal financial institutions where the customer has knowledge of the agreement or by a federal financial institution as regards a customer thereof, on behalf of that customer’s customers;

  • (c) with respect to a bid for or purchase, sale or underwriting of securities by federal financial institutions or a group including federal financial institutions;

  • (d) with respect to the exchange of statistics and credit information, the development and utilization of systems, forms, methods, procedures and standards, the utilization of common facilities and joint research and development in connection therewith, and the restriction of advertising;

  • (e) with respect to reasonable terms and conditions of participation in guaranteed or insured loan programs authorized pursuant to an Act of Parliament or of the legislature of a province;

  • (f) with respect to the amount of any charge for a service or with respect to the kind of service provided to a customer outside Canada, payable or performed outside Canada, or payable or performed in Canada on behalf of a person who is outside Canada;

  • (g) with respect to the persons or classes of persons to whom a loan or other service will be made or provided outside Canada;

  • (h) in respect of which the Minister of Finance has certified to the Commissioner that Minister’s request for or approval of the agreement or arrangement for the purposes of financial policy and has certified the names of the parties to the agreement or arrangement; or

  • (i) that is entered into only by financial institutions each of which is an affiliate of each of the others.

• Marginal note:Definition of federal financial institution

  (3) In this section and section 45, federal financial institution means a bank or an authorized foreign bank within the meaning of section 2 of the Bank Act, a company to which the Trust and Loan Companies Act applies or a company or society to which the Insurance Companies Act applies.

• Marginal note:Where proceedings commenced under section 76, 79, 90.1 or 92

  (4) No proceedings may be commenced under this section against a person on the basis of facts that are the same or substantially the same as the facts on the basis of which an order against that person is sought by the Commissioner under section 76, 79, 90.1 or 92.

50 [Repealed, 2009, c. 2, s. 413]

51 [Repealed, 2009, c. 2, s. 413]

Marginal note:False or misleading representations

• 52 (1) No person shall, for the purpose of promoting, directly or indirectly, the supply or use of a product or for the purpose of promoting, directly or indirectly, any business interest, by any means whatever, knowingly or recklessly make a representation to the public that is false or misleading in a material respect.

• Marginal note:Proof of certain matters not required

  (1.1) For greater certainty, in establishing that subsection (1) was contravened, it is not necessary to prove that

  • (a) any person was deceived or misled;

  • (b) any member of the public to whom the representation was made was within Canada; or

  • (c) the representation was made in a place to which the public had access.

• Marginal note:Permitted representations

  (1.2) For greater certainty, in this section and in sections 52.01, 52.1, 74.01, 74.011 and 74.02, the making or sending of a representation includes permitting a representation to be made or sent.

• Marginal note:Representations accompanying products

  (2) For the purposes of this section, a representation that is

  • (a) expressed on an article offered or displayed for sale or its wrapper or container,

  • (b) expressed on anything attached to, inserted in or accompanying an article offered or displayed for sale, its wrapper or container, or anything on which the article is mounted for display or sale,

  • (c) expressed on an in-store or other point-of-purchase display,

  • (d) made in the course of in-store or door-to-door selling to a person as ultimate user, or by communicating orally by any means of telecommunication to a person as ultimate user, or

  • (e) contained in or on anything that is sold, sent, delivered, transmitted or made available in any other manner to a member of the public,

  is deemed to be made to the public by and only by the person who causes the representation to be so expressed, made or contained, subject to subsection (2.1).

• Marginal note:Representations from outside Canada

  (2.1) Where a person referred to in subsection (2) is outside Canada, a representation described in paragraph (2)(a), (b), (c) or (e) is, for the purposes of subsection (1), deemed to be made to the public by the person who imports into Canada the article, thing or display referred to in that paragraph.

• Marginal note:Deemed representation to public

  (3) Subject to subsection (2), a person who, for the purpose of promoting, directly or indirectly, the supply or use of a product or any business interest, supplies to a wholesaler, retailer or other distributor of a product any material or thing that contains a representation of a nature referred to in subsection (1) is deemed to have made that representation to the public.

• Marginal note:General impression to be considered

  (4) In a prosecution for a contravention of this section, the general impression conveyed by a representation as well as its literal meaning shall be taken into account in determining whether or not the representation is false or misleading in a material respect.

• Marginal note:Offence and punishment

  (5) Any person who contravenes subsection (1) is guilty of an offence and liable

  • (a) on conviction on indictment, to a fine in the discretion of the court or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years, or to both; or

  • (b) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding $200,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both.

• Marginal note:Reviewable conduct

  (6) Nothing in Part VII.1 shall be read as excluding the application of this section to a representation that constitutes reviewable conduct within the meaning of that Part.

• Marginal note:Duplication of proceedings

  (7) No proceedings may be commenced under this section against a person against whom an order is sought under Part VII.1 on the basis of the same or substantially the same facts as would be alleged in proceedings under this section.

Marginal note:False or misleading representation — sender or subject matter information

• 52.01 (1) No person shall, for the purpose of promoting, directly or indirectly, any business interest or the supply or use of a product, knowingly or recklessly send or cause to be sent a false or misleading representation in the sender information or subject matter information of an electronic message.

• Marginal note:False or misleading representation — electronic message

  (2) No person shall, for the purpose of promoting, directly or indirectly, any business interest or the supply or use of a product, knowingly or recklessly send or cause to be sent in an electronic message a representation that is false or misleading in a material respect.

• Marginal note:False or misleading representation — locator

  (3) No person shall, for the purpose of promoting, directly or indirectly, any business interest or the supply or use of a product, knowingly or recklessly make or cause to be made a false or misleading representation in a locator.

• Marginal note:Proof of deception not required

  (4) For greater certainty, in establishing that any of subsections (1) to (3) was contravened, it is not necessary to prove that any person was deceived or misled.

• Marginal note:General impression to be considered

  (5) In a prosecution for a contravention of any of subsections (1) to (3), the general impression conveyed by a representation as well as its literal meaning are to be taken into account.

• Marginal note:Offence and punishment

  (6) Any person who contravenes any of subsections (1) to (3) is guilty of an offence and

  • (a) liable on conviction on indictment to a fine in the discretion of the court or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years, or to both; or

  • (b) liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $200,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both.

• Marginal note:Reviewable conduct

  (7) Nothing in Part VII.1 is to be read as excluding the application of this section to the making of a representation that constitutes reviewable conduct within the meaning of that Part.

• Marginal note:Where application made under Part VII.1

  (8) No proceedings may be commenced under this section against a person on the basis of facts that are the same or substantially the same as the facts on the basis of which an order against that person is sought under Part VII.1.

• Marginal note:Interpretation

  (9) For the purposes of this section,

  • (a) an electronic message is considered to have been sent once its transmission has been initiated; and

  • (b) it is immaterial whether the electronic address to which an electronic message is sent exists or whether an electronic message reaches its intended destination.