How to run a contest or giveaway in Canada: the rules behind "no purchase necessary"

Section 74.06 of the Competition Act treats a promotional contest as reviewable conduct in three situations: where adequate and fair disclosure is missing for the number and approximate value of the prizes, the area or areas to which they relate, and any fact within the promoter's knowledge that materially affects the chances of winning; where distribution of the prizes is unduly delayed; and where participants are selected or prizes distributed on a basis other than skill or random selection.

The Competition Bureau's enforcement guidelines describe a short list of disclosures that should appear wherever the contest is promoted, including the skill testing question requirement, with the full rules available to anyone who asks. For a social media giveaway that means a brief rules summary in the post and a link to the complete rules.

Both conventions come from section 206 of the Criminal Code. One paragraph makes it an offence to dispose of any property by lots, cards, tickets or any mode of chance. A draw decided purely by chance falls inside that wording, so Canadian contests add an element of skill: the selected entrant must correctly answer a question, usually arithmetic, before being declared the winner.

Another paragraph makes it an offence to dispose of goods by a game of chance, or a game of mixed chance and skill, in which the contestant pays money or other valuable consideration. A skill question alone leaves a purchase required contest inside that wording. The Bureau's guidelines put it plainly: in effect the section prohibits a requirement that a product be purchased as the sole condition of entry. Hence the no purchase necessary route, such as a free online form or a mailed entry.

The Bureau also notes that the Competition Act itself places no ban on requiring a purchase. The no purchase convention answers the Criminal Code.

For years, contests open to Quebec residents had to be registered with the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux, with duties paid on prize value, security posted for larger prizes and a winners' report filed. Brands often excluded Quebec to avoid the paperwork, and many guides still tell them to.

Quebec's 2023 Act to reduce regulatory and administrative burden, chapter 24 of the 2023 statutes, assented to on 27 October 2023, repealed the publicity contest chapter of the lotteries Act and the Rules respecting publicity contests. Contests filed before that date stay under the old rules. Confirm the current position before launch, and remember that Quebec's French language requirements still apply to contest materials aimed at Quebec.

Most giveaways collect followers who leave when the prize is drawn. The contests that build a brand ask for something tied to what the brand stands for: a photo of the product in use, a story about the problem it solves, a nomination of someone who deserves it. Skill based judging of that kind also sits comfortably with the selection rule.

Two further rules apply to how the contest is promoted. Entrants or creators who post about the brand in exchange for entries have a material connection that should be disclosed, and each social platform has its own promotion terms. Write the rules once, link them from every post and keep the prize delivery date.