Should the Competition Bureau Raise Merger Review Fees from $50,000 to $72,000?

Official title: Proposal to increase filing fee for merger reviews

Closed Regulations & Permits Economy & Jobs Finance & Consumer
The Competition Bureau wants to raise the fee companies pay when they merge from $50,000 to $72,000. Why? The fee hasn't changed since 2003, and reviewing mergers has gotten more complex and expensive. The extra money would help hire more economists and legal experts to review deals faster.

Why This Matters

This one's mostly for lawyers and big corporations. When companies merge, they pay the Competition Bureau to review the deal. The proposed fee increase is tiny compared to the billions involved in most mergers. But if you care about whether the government has enough resources to block anti-competitive deals, this matters.

What Could Change

The merger filing fee would jump from $50,000 to $72,000. That's a 44% increase. The Bureau says this would cover 100% of their merger review costs. They'd use the extra revenue to hire more economic and legal experts, and improve document review processes.

Key Issues

  • Is a $72,000 flat fee the right approach, or should fees be tiered based on deal size?
  • Are the current service standards (14 days for simple cases, 45 days for complex) adequate?
  • Does the proposed fee place an unreasonable burden on merging parties?

How to Participate

  1. This consultation closed on November 20, 2017. The Bureau invited comments on the fee proposal, costing analysis, fee approach, and service standards for merger reviews.

What Happened

This consultation took place between October 20 and November 20, 2017. The page does not provide details on the number of submissions received or the final decision.

Key Documents