Section 52.01 — Competition Act: False or misleading representation — sender or subject matter information

No person shall, for the purpose of promoting, directly or indirectly, any business interest or the supply or use of a product, knowingly or recklessly send or cause to be sent a false or misleading representation in the sender information or subject matter information of an electronic message. No person shall, for the purpose of promoting, directly or indirectly, any business interest or the supply or use of a product, knowingly or recklessly send or cause to be sent in an electronic message a representation that is false or misleading in a material respect. No person shall, for the purpose of promoting, directly or indirectly, any business interest or the supply or use of a product, knowingly or recklessly make or cause to be made a false or misleading representation in a locator. For greater certainty, in establishing that any of subsections (1) to (3) was contravened, it is not necessary to prove that any person was deceived or misled. For greater certainty, the making of a representation of a price that is not attainable due to fixed obligatory charges or fees constitutes a false or misleading representation, unless the obligatory charges or fees represent only an amount imposed on a purchaser of the product referred to in subsections (1) to (3) by or under an Act of Parliament or the legislature of a province. In a prosecution for a contravention of any of subsections (1) to (3), the general impression conveyed by a representation as well as its literal meaning are to be taken into account. Any person who contravenes any of subsections (1) to (3) is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction on indictment to a fine in the discretion of the court or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years, or to both; or liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $200,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both. Nothing in Part VII.1 is to be read as excluding the application of this section to the making of a representation that constitutes reviewable conduct within the meaning of that Part. No proceedings may be commenced under this section against a person on the basis of facts that are the same or substantially the same as the facts on the basis of which an order against that person is, on application by the Commissioner, sought under Part VII.1. For the purposes of this section, an electronic message is considered to have been sent once its transmission has been initiated;

and it is immaterial whether the electronic address to which an electronic message is sent exists or whether an electronic message reaches its intended destination.