Cuneo, Jonathan W. --- "Overview of the Americas" [2010] ELECD 764; in Foer, A. Albert; Cuneo, W. Jonathan (eds), "The International Handbook on Private Enforcement of Competition Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: The International Handbook on Private Enforcement of Competition Law

Editor(s): Foer, A. Albert; Cuneo, W. Jonathan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848448773

Section: Chapter 24

Section Title: Overview of the Americas

Author(s): Cuneo, Jonathan W.

Number of pages: 4

Extract:

24 Overview of the Americas
Jonathan W. Cuneo1


Antitrust regimes in the Americas fall into three broad categories: (1) the United States
(including many states), have antitrust legislation, class actions, and a common law
tradition; (2) Canada (and Jamaica) draw heavily on common law traditions and are in
proximity to the United States and therefore have hybrid models that draw on American
and British legal traditions; and (3) Spanish and Portuguese countries in Central and
South America, where private actions are present in inchoate form but are only now
beginning to emerge.

Canada2
In 1985, as European countries adopted a competition model for their economies in line
with the increased pace of globalization of trade, the Canadian parliament passed the
Competition Act. That Act creates a claim for a person who has suffered a loss or damage
as a result of certain specifically prohibited acts, generally involving collusion or otherwise
universally condemned practices; other practices, such as resale price maintenance and
abuse of dominant market positions are left to government enforcement. Actions may
be maintained both under the common law and under the Competition Act. Canadian
courts have entertained class cases on behalf of both direct purchasers and indirect pur-
chasers. Significantly, Competition Act private actions in Canada may proceed in either
Federal or provincial court; however, most proceed in provincial court.
More than any other legal system in the world the Canadian system of antitrust resem-
bles ours in the United States.3 Frequently, class cases are pursued in ...