OTTAWA – A recent ruling from Federal Court Chief Justice Paul Crampton has criticized Amazon Canada for its handling of a court-ordered document production in an ongoing investigation into potentially anticompetitive practices. The judge determined that the company should have engaged “at least 100 lawyers” to sift through over 2 million documents in order to adhere to the deadlines set by the court.
The judge's calculations suggest that with a dedicated team of 100 lawyers working 10 hours a day for five days a week, they could review 2.25 million documents within 15 weeks at an average rate of 30 documents per hour. This means that each lawyer would be responsible for assessing approximately 22,500 documents to meet the requirements of the probe initiated by the country’s commissioner of competition.
In his ruling, Crampton pointed out that Amazon Canada claimed it would be impossible to comply with 90-day and 120-day deadlines established by the court in July. However, the judge noted that Amazon US had already compiled significant portions of the same documentation during litigation with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, where over 100 lawyers were assigned to review the evidence. This highlighted a disparity in urgency and diligence between the two Amazon branches.
Crampton remarked that “experienced lawyers” should be capable of reviewing an average of 30 documents per hour and criticized Amazon Canada for being “unrelenting” in its assertion that it required eight months to comply with the document production order. The judge concluded that the company was not proceeding with the required urgency and did not act as diligently as could be reasonably expected.
While the judge granted Amazon Canada an extension until December 15, he emphasized that the company failed to justify any further requests for extensions beyond that date. The ruling comes amid ongoing scrutiny from the Competition Bureau, which initiated the investigation into Amazon's business practices in 2020. The current inquiry focuses on whether Amazon's “marketplace fair pricing policy” allows the company to impose higher fees on sellers than would ordinarily be acceptable, potentially leading to increased retail prices for consumers.
The Competition Bureau is working to determine if this pricing policy obstructs market entry for lower-priced competitors and diminishes price competition among various online marketplaces and retail channels. The investigation into Amazon Canada’s potential “abuse of dominance” is separate from another inquiry into the company’s marketing practices that began last year.
Additionally, the Bureau is examining how product ratings and reviews may influence product rankings and visibility on both Amazon’s website and mobile app. This multifaceted investigation reflects broader regulatory scrutiny of major tech companies in Canada and the implications of their business practices on market competition and consumer pricing.
The report highlights ongoing challenges for Amazon in navigating legal requirements while under investigation for potentially anticompetitive behavior, demonstrating the complexities of regulatory compliance in the e-commerce sector.
