Section 34 — Competition Act: Prohibition orders

Where a person has been convicted of an offence under Part VI, the court may, at the time of the conviction, on the application of the Attorney General of Canada or the attorney general of the province, in addition to any other penalty imposed on the person convicted, prohibit the continuation or repetition of the offence or prohibit the doing of any act or thing, by the person convicted or any other person, that is directed toward the continuation or repetition of the offence. Where it appears to a superior court of criminal jurisdiction in proceedings commenced by information of the Attorney General of Canada or the attorney general of the province for the purposes of this section that a person has done, is about to do or is likely to do any act or thing constituting or directed toward the commission of an offence under Part VI, the court may prohibit the commission of the offence or the doing or continuation of any act or thing by that person or any other person constituting or directed toward the commission of the offence. An order made under this section in relation to an offence may require any person to take such steps as the court considers necessary to prevent the commission, continuation or repetition of the offence; or to take any steps agreed to by that person and the Attorney General of Canada or the attorney general of the province. An order made under this section applies for a period of ten years unless the court specifies a shorter period. An order made under this section may be varied or rescinded in respect of any person to whom the order applies by the court that made the order where the person and the Attorney General of Canada or the attorney general of the province consent to the variation or rescission; or where the court, on the application of the person or the Attorney General of Canada or the attorney general of the province, finds that the circumstances that led to the making of the order have changed and, in the circumstances that exist at the time the application is made, the order would not have been made or would have been ineffective in achieving its intended purpose. No proceedings may be commenced under Part VI against a person against whom an order is sought under subsection (2) on the basis of the same or substantially the same facts as are alleged in proceedings under that subsection. The Attorney General of Canada or the attorney general of the province or any person against whom an order is made under this section may appeal against the order or a refusal to make an order or the quashing of an order from a superior court of criminal jurisdiction in the province to the court of appeal of the province, or from the Federal Court to the Federal Court of Appeal, as the case may be, on any ground that involves a question of law or, if leave to appeal is granted by the court appealed to within twenty-one days after the judgment appealed from is pronounced or within such extended time as the court appealed to or a judge thereof for special reasons allows, on any ground that appears to that court to be a sufficient ground of appeal. The Attorney General of Canada or the attorney general of the province or any person against whom an order is made under this section may appeal against the order or a refusal to make an order or the quashing of an order from the court of appeal of the province or the Federal Court of Appeal, as the case may be, to the Supreme Court of Canada on any ground that involves a question of law or, if leave to appeal is granted by the Supreme Court, on any ground that appears to that Court to be a sufficient ground of appeal. Where the court of appeal or the Supreme Court of Canada allows an appeal, it may quash any order made by the court appealed from, and may make any order that in its opinion the court appealed from could and should have made. Subject to subsections (3) and (4), Part XXI of the Criminal Code applies with such modifications as the circumstances require to appeals under this section. A court may punish any person who contravenes an order made under this section by a fine in the discretion of the court or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years. Any proceedings pursuant to an information of the Attorney General of Canada or the attorney general of a province under this section shall be tried by the court without a jury, and the procedure applicable in injunction proceedings in the superior courts of the province shall, in so far as possible, apply. In this section, superior court of criminal jurisdiction means a superior court of criminal jurisdiction as defined in the Criminal Code .