Assessing the competitiveness of Canada’s regulatory environment for digital markets

Abstract

This paper uses a new set of OECD Product Market Regulation indicators to assess the competitiveness of Canada’s regulatory environment for digital markets. It finds that while Canada has made significant broad-based improvements to the Competition Act, further consideration could be given to ex ante regulation to make digital markets more open and contestable. In the coming years, there is likely to be significant new learning on the design and impact of ex ante regulation given the growing list of countries adopting these policies around the world. Canadian researchers and policymakers should study these developments to inform Canada’s approach. 

Keywords: competition, digital markets, ex ante regulation, Canada, digital markets act, Competition Act, product market regulation

JEL Classification: L4, L5, K2