The European Commission, the Canadian Competition Bureau, the United States Department of Justice and the German Federal Cartel Office and other competition regulators have announced they are investigating allegations of a widespread price-fixing conspiracy among the world’s leading chocolate manufacturers, including Nestle, Cadbury Schweppes, Hershey and Mars.
Grocery sector inquiries
In February 2008 the Danish competition board and the French competition authority both initiated probes into the high price increases of foods in that month. According to the Danish Statistical Office, during 2007 bread and cereal prices rose by 12.3 per cent and dairy product prices rose by 17.5 per cent while consumer prices rose by 2.9 per cent and overall food prices by 6.9 per cent. France has recorded similar price increases.
The United Kingdom's Competition Commission has also published recommendations for consultation to address identified competition problems in the UK grocery market. These include a ‘competition test’ for planning decisions on large grocery stores, measures to prevent exclusivity arrangements and restrictive covenants used by retailers as barriers to entry, and the creation of a new groceries supply code of practice and appointment of an ombudsman to supervise and enforce the code.
European Union and the United States
Microsoft—fines imposed and oversight extended
The European Commission has fined Microsoft A$1.46 billion for failing to comply with a 2004 commission order that the company share with competitors its server coding at a fair and reasonable price. Following this recent fine, Microsoft announced its decision to disclose thousands of pages of confidential code to rivals that it says will enable competitors to design products that work seamlessly with Microsoft's own.
In the United States, the restrictive anti-trust oversight of Microsoft, which was implemented as a part of settlement with the Department of Justice in 2002, has been extended to 2009. The oversight was extended due to 'the extreme and unforeseen delay in the availability of complete, accurate and useable technical documentation ... Microsoft is required to make available'. The judge agreed with a group of states that said Microsoft withheld important information on communications links from its competitors.
United Kingdom
UK OFT offers financial incentives for cartel tip-offs
In an attempt to encourage people who have information about hard-core cartel activity to come forward, the UK’s Office of Fair Trading has announced a new 18-month pilot program to pay informants as much as A$216 000 in cash for information about price-fixing and illegal cartels. Rewards will be paid only where information is accurate, verifiable and proves to be useful in the OFT's anti-cartel enforcement work; they will be calculated according to a set formula and will not be subject to negotiation. The program is designed as a complementary tool to the leniency policy. The South Korean Fair Trade Commission is the only other anti-trust regulator to have a similar reward plan in place.
Japan
Marine hose cartel—Japan uses cease and desist orders
Bridgestone Corporation of Japan and four foreign firms have been ordered to terminate their international cartel to fix prices and market shares for marine hoses used in oil transportation. This is the first time the Japanese Fair Trade Commission has used its cease and desist powers on foreign companies. The JFTC has imposed a fine on Bridgestone but is unable to impose fines on the foreign firms because they have never sold marine hoses in Japan. The cartel operated between 1999 and 2007, with the US Justice Department arresting company executives connected to the international cartel in May 2007.
