The only prior takeover attempt that was rejected, was in 2008, when Ottawa rejected a takeover of MacDonald Dettweiler by a US entity.  This was justified on national security grounds.

The Harper government is, by default, fairly permissive in its perspective on foreign takeovers generally, and foreign ownership in particular (N.B. this was clearly seen in the opening up of the cellular telephone industry in Canada, to a handful of smaller competitors, some of whom were foreign owner or controlled.

Any Sask. Potash takeover, will be illustrative of how Canada intends to apply the Investment Canada Act (Canada) generally.

• The creation of a “making available right” by expanding the definition of “communication to the public by telecommunication”. This would clarify that making copyrighted works available online without authority is an infringement of copyright;

• The introduction of a new prohibition on the circumvention of Technical Protection Measures (TPMs) which would trump fair dealing rights and trigger liability even where the TMP circumvention is for a non-infringing purpose;

• The introduction of a prohibition on removal of rights management information from digital files;

• The clarification of the liability of intermediaries such as ISPs and search engines;

• The introduction of a new “notice and notice” regime that would: (a) require ISPs to pass along notice of infringement to their users upon request from rights holders and (b) impose certain data-retention obligations on ISPs;

• The introduction of a new fair dealing exception, relating  to parody, satire, backup copying and non-commercial user generated content;

• Changes to the treatment of fair dealing use for educational purposes, imposing new obligations on educational institutions; and

• An obligation for the Government to review the Copyright Act every five years.

It should be noted that there may still be amendments to the bill.  We will provide further commentary on these matters, as they develop.

Beyond the very questions surrounding the enforceability of this Act in foreign jurisdictions, the focus seems to be on corporate penal sanctions, rather than the emphasis being where it has been historically, on consultation.

Time will tell if this Act sees the light of day, and only then will we be able to determine its full scope and effect.

The offending action focused on Google automatically assigning new users a network of “followers” from among people with whom they corresponded most often on Gmail.  Google corrected the offending aspects of the Buzz service, but not before the resulting privacy concerns received considerable attention from concerned government agencies, as well as numerous users.

While the joint letter may or may not of had a causal connection to the change in Google policy, it is interesting to note how quickly, and apparently effectively, this multi-jurisdictional approach was, given that privacy laws vary from one jurisdiction to another, and are primarily domestically focused laws.

Mr. Finckenstein’s comments disclose an inbuilt bias prevalent within the CRTC.  That is, because other sectors of the economy are “protected” from foreign ownership, the Communications sector should be equally protected.  The concept of reducing or eliminating foreign ownership restrictions, appears not to have crossed Mr. Finckenstein’s mind.

This position puts the CRTC Chair at odds with most opposition MPs and all government MPs, the later of whom are clearly committed to addressing the systemic impediments to productivity gains in the Canadian economy, to be achieved through enhanced competition and economic liberalization.

Summary of UK Withholding Tax Rates

As an added benefit, all other UK Tax Treaty Withholding Tax Rates are set out on the linked document.

Two amended provisions of the Competition Act come into force. The changes to the Act allow for more effective criminal enforcement against the most serious types of cartel agreements, while providing businesses with more freedom and flexibility to benefit from legitimate alliances

The main elements are as follows:

• Increasing the penalties for deceptive marketing practices, and expressly empowering the courts to award restitution to victims of false or misleading representations.
• Removing criminal offences for certain pricing practices.
• Creating a more effective mechanism for the criminal prosecution of the most egregious forms of cartel agreements between or among competitors, and introducing a civil review process for other forms of competitor collaborations.
• Introducing a two-stage merger review process to allow for a more efficient and effective review of mergers.
• Allowing the Competition Tribunal to award administrative monetary penalties against companies who have abused a dominant position in the marketplace.

These amendments will help ensure legitimate businesses are not victimized by the unlawful behavior of competitors through tougher penalties, particularly for abuse of dominance, bid-rigging and cartel-like activities.

The narrowing of the criminal cartel provision will promote and not deter legitimate beneficial alliances, joint ventures and other collaborations. Potentially legitimate forms of competitor collaborations will not be subject to the threat of criminal sanction.

The amendments will instill greater consumer confidence in the marketplace by deterring deceptive marketing practices and mass marketing fraud through the introduction of restitution, and more meaningful penalties.

The Competition Bureau – FAQ is an good primary source of information on these amendments to the Competition Act (Canada.),

Amendments to the Oil and Gas Activities Act increase the regulatory powers of the Oil and Gas Commission (OGC) and enhance government’s ability to protect the environment from potential impacts of natural gas and petroleum development:

• The OGC will have expanded powers to use money from the Orphan Site Reclamation Fund to clean up sites where no oil and gas owner can be held accountable.
• The OGC will have a broader authority to collect fees and levies that support it in regulating the industry.
• The Province will have the authority to set environmental objectives for the OGC to incorporate into their permitting decisions.
• Amendments regarding approvals for pipeline crossings of roads will better accommodate community interests and government transportation objectives.

Amendments to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act will support landowners in resolving conflicts with industry, making the dispute resolution process more balanced and effective:

• The Mediation and Arbitration Board will be renamed the Surface Rights Board, to clarify the board’s purpose.
• Landowners will now have the right to request mediation in surface access disputes.
• Neighbours and tenants will now have the right to request mediation for claims related to damage caused by an oil and gas activity.
• The board will have authority to deal with disputes over the operation of a surface lease.
• The board will have expanded authority to award costs.

The legislative objective of these amendments is to ensure a effective process for resolving disputes, one that equally balances the rights of landowners and industry.

Chile’s economic future has brightened considerably merely by being admitted to OCED. From now on, Chile will have a seat at the table when free trade agreements and other economic covenants between major economies are up for discussion. The country’s economic fundamentals also appear strong. Chile expects, “…real GDP growth to average a solid 3.4% beyond 2010 through to the end” of a 10 year growth horizon. Unemployment stands at a modest (given the recession) 9%, while inflation has held steady at 4%. Additionally, Chile remains and is becoming an even more attractive foreign direct investment choice.

OECD – Chile signs up as first OECD member in South America