European Union, United States and South African competition bodies raid freight forwarding companies
On 10 October 2007 European Union, United States and South African competition authority officials raided the offices of various freight forwarding companies—including Kuehne and Nagel, Panalpine, EGL and Expeditors in the United Kingdom, the United States and Switzerland—under suspicion of anti-competitive practices.
In a separate case, an Oregon-based freight forwarding company, Lift Forwarders, pleaded guilty to charges of bid-rigging and allocating shipments in a conspiracy involving its participation in a United States Department of Defense program for shipping the household goods of Defense personnel between the United States and international destinations. Lift Forwarders agreed to pay a criminal fine of AUD$152 113.
Federal Trade Commission publishes consumer fraud survey
The United States Federal Trade Commission has released the results of its second consumer fraud survey, the first being held in 2003. The latest survey, which was conducted between November and December 2005, found that 13.5 per cent of the adult population (approximately 30.2 million people) in the US had been victims of some form of scam over a 12-month period. The most common types of scams were weight loss, foreign lottery offers, buyers' clubs, fraudulent prize promotions and work-from home scams.
BP settles market manipulation case for AUD$332 million
Europe’s second largest oil company, BP, agreed to pay civil penalties totalling AUD$332 million to settle claims that it manipulated the price of propane using a speculative trading strategy from February 2004. BP will pay AUD$138 million to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, AUD$110 million to the Department of Justice, AUD$58 million to propane consumers, and AUD$27.4 million towards a consumer fraud fund.
European Commission extends Google DoubleClick deadline
The European Commission extended its anti-trust investigation of Google’s AUD$3.4 billion proposed acquisition of DoubleClick until 13 November 2007. This will enable analysis of proposed competition remedies, including possible divestiture of assets or increasing access to competitors.
United Kingdom Competition Commission provisional report on British Sky Broadcasting/ITV stake
On 2 October 2007 the Competition Commission provisionally found that British Sky Broadcasting’s acquisition of a 17.9 per cent share in ITV was anti-competitive; the commission is now considering remedial action.
Telecom regulator Ofcom has also objected to BSkyB's proposed charges for new television channels. On 29 October 2007 BSkyB offered to place 3 per cent of its ITV voting rights with an independent trustee in an attempt to convince the Competition Commission to allow it to retain the majority of its stake acquired earlier in the year. The Competition Commission is expected to release its recommendations in December 2007.
Japanese Fair Trade Commission amends cartel and leniency laws
The Japanese Fair Trade Commission has released a draft document entitled 'Prospective amendments to the AMA', which proposes changes to Japanese anti-monopoly law relating to cartel conduct. The amendments will increase fines for cartel ringleaders, broaden leniency provisions to allow more than three companies to come forward with information in return for reduced penalties, and extend the statute of limitations from three to five years.
