Competition Bureau drops charges after error taints investigation

Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. and its subsidiary, BFI Canada Inc. no longer face charges that they violated a July 2010 consent agreement they reached with the Competition Bureau as a condition of approval of a merger. (See story.)

The charges were dropped after the Bureau discovered “an unfortunate procedural error, where certain information subject to solicitor-client privilege had been inadvertently shared with Bureau investigators and the [prosecutors]”.

In a statement released on December 14, 2012, the Bureau advised that it “took immediate steps to review the integrity of its investigative processes and implement safeguards to prevent such an error in the future”.

As well, the Bureau said it has taken notice of steps taken by Progressive to improve its compliance with the consent agreement and has concluded that it is no longer appropriate to pursue the charges.