Industry committee  Yes. It's standard in EU legislation. I believe it's in the guidelines in the U.S. as well.

Industry committee  On clauses 8 and 9, I would think that what is now in Bill C-59 with the HHI is good. That's more in line with worldwide standards than market share thresholds, for sure. As far as clause 3 is concerned, to me, the underlying problem is this need to always choose between sections 45 and 90.1 as a vehicle.

Industry committee  That is a big question.

Industry committee  I think Mr. Boswell is entirely correct when he talks about the horizontal or transversal approach. There is a huge amount of work to do. The investigative procedure that will be applied for the first time in the airline services industry in Canada should also, if it is used as in the United Kingdom, for example, allow the competition bureau to propose specific recommendations about the regulatory amendments to be made.

Industry committee  In terms of legislative texts or guidelines, typically you add language to the efficiencies defence to say that the party invoking the efficiencies defence must show that the efficiencies flow through to the consumers—at least in a reasonable part. Then the authority has the tools to ask, “You're going to save 10% on your costs with this merger.

Industry committee  I mentioned earlier, I think that many clauses are addressed already. From those that were left and that were discussed earlier, I think clause 3 is a good idea, but I would venture that it's going to run into trouble before the courts. The merger thresholds, clauses 8 and 9, are, to me, not a good idea for the reasons I explained earlier.

Industry committee  Yes, that's correct. The HHI takes into account not only the biggest one's market share, but also the way that all the other actors are positioned in the market. Take the example of a concentration where one actor has 30% of the market but two other actors have 30% of the market, as a counterweight.

Industry committee  That's right. The HHI captures that, and it is the tool that all the authorities use.

Industry committee  Yes, it could. I would like this to be clear. What you are discussing in the bills and in this one are largely reforms that are going in the right direction. As you say, the work is being done piecemeal. Take, for example, the well-known exception for efficiency gains, referred to as the “efficiency gains defence”, which has been abolished.

Industry committee  That's correct. In the other territories, that work was done in the 1990s, through reinterpretation and progress made in the community. Here, we continued to be limited by very inflexible legislation. We had an absolutely astounding interpretation by the Supreme Court in the Tervita Corporation decision.

Industry committee  Yes, I would tend to say you are right. On the first question regarding the behaviour of the corporations, we have to understand that corporations do what they have to do. They have legislation. They hire lawyers and consultants, and they make arguments. The more legislation there is, the more arguments there will be.

Industry committee  If you ask me as an academic, yes, I would redraft the bill from scratch and make it way simpler. I think the commissioner explained it very well. All the modifications that are on the table do some good, but they also make the law more complex and heavier. The context is the same everywhere.

Industry committee  First of all, earlier, Mr. Singh mentioned 60% as a European figure. I don't think so. I think in Europe, the threshold for a firm to be found dominant is around 50%. In the U.S., it's around 60%,. However, this is a different question. It's not about merger control. What is now in Bill C-59....

Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for this invitation to appear before your committee. Allow me to introduce myself briefly. I am a full professor of law and innovation in the law faculty at the Université de Montréal. I have 30 years' experience in competition law and economic governance, partly in private practice, but mainly as a professor of competition law in Europe.

Industry committee  Yes, that is right.