The Irish Government has approved the repeal of the Restrictive Practices (Groceries) Order 1987 in its entirety. The Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment commented that the Groceries Order has kept prices of most grocery items in Ireland artificially high by allowing suppliers to specify minimum prices below which products cannot be sold. The Irish Government has also agreed to shortly publish new legislative proposals to strengthen the provisions of the Competition Act 2002 to specifically prohibit resale price maintenance, unfair discrimination and the payment of advertising allowances.
Canada reaches $150m settlement with price fixing cartel
Hoffman La Roche, BASF, Rhone-Poulenc and Lonza have settled a A$150m lawsuit initiated by a Quebec consumer group for running an international price fixing cartel on products including vitamins, milk, cereals and shampoo in 1999. In 1999 the US Department of Justice fined Hoffman and BASF a combined A$990m for participating in the international price fixing cartel.
Air NZ fined over small print
After an investigation by the New Zealand Commerce Commission, Air NZ has been found guilty of misleading the public over airfares and is expected to be sentenced in early 2006. The NZ court found that 14 out of 20 of Air NZ’s advertisements were misleading as they failed to include extra costs when the fares were advertised. The judge criticised the use of ‘microscopic’ and ‘tiny’ asterisks in the advertisements and stated that fuel costs were an operating expense and should be included in the headline price.
Mexico slaps record fine on Coca Cola
The Mexican Federal Competition Commission has imposed fines totalling A$92m on Coca Cola and many of its bottlers and distributors for engaging in monopolistic practices. Many Coke distributors had reportedly threatened to remove company-supplied refrigerators and displays from shops that sold other brands. They also allegedly shifted competitors' merchandise away from prime locations in some stores, bought it all up and dumped it, or offered Coke merchandise in return for not selling the other brands. The fine represents the largest penalty that the Commission has ever imposed for monopolistic practices.
UK OFT launches ‘come clean on cartels’ campaign
The UK OFT released a new campaign in November titled ‘Come clean on cartels’. The month-long campaign is aiming to encourage businesses, especially small and medium sized enterprises, to take advantage of the OFT’s leniency program. The leniency program allows whistleblowers to receive partial or total immunity from fines if they are willing to advise the OFT of any cartel conduct that is occurring within their industry.
