OTTAWA — A Federal Court judge has stated that Amazon Canada should have employed at least 100 lawyers to review over two million documents in a competition investigation. Chief Justice Paul Crampton ruled this month, granting some extensions for document production but denying others. He determined that a team of 100 lawyers could complete the review in approximately 15 weeks.

Crampton's calculations suggest that if each lawyer worked 10 hours a day, five days a week, reviewing an average of 30 documents per hour, they would need to assess about 22,500 documents each. The judge noted that Amazon claimed it could not meet the 90-day and 120-day deadlines set by the court in July.

However, Crampton pointed out that Amazon US had already compiled much of the same material during litigation with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, where over 100 lawyers were involved in reviewing extensive documentary evidence. He stated, "It is reasonable to expect that Amazon Canada ought to have done the same as Amazon US, much sooner in the process."

The judge criticized Amazon Canada for being "unrelenting" in its assertion that it required eight months to comply with the production order. He found that the company was not proceeding as diligently as expected. While Crampton agreed to extend the deadline to December 15, he noted that Amazon failed to justify its request for further extensions beyond that date.

The Competition Bureau initiated the investigation in 2020, focusing on Amazon's practices, including its "marketplace fair pricing policy." This policy allows Amazon to charge higher fees to sellers, which may lead to increased retail prices for consumers. The bureau is examining whether this policy hinders market entry for lower-priced competitors or diminishes price competition among online marketplaces.

Additionally, the investigation into Amazon Canada's potential "abuse of dominance" is distinct from another inquiry into the company's marketing practices that began last year. The Competition Bureau is also looking into how product ratings and reviews may influence the ranking and display of products on Amazon's website and mobile app.