Undertaking date

Undertaking type

s.87B undertaking

Section

Section 45(1)(c) and 45AJ of the CCA

Industry

Roofing Industry

Company or individual details

  • Name

    Ivy Contractors Pty Ltd

    ACN

    143 776 710

Undertaking

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has accepted a court enforceable undertaking from Ivy Contractors Pty Ltd (Ivy Contractors) and its sole director Brent Cameron Callan-Kerkenezov (Kerkenezov). The undertaking is in relation to the use of industry social media groups to discuss pricing in a manner that was likely to contravene section 45AJ of the CCA (attempted price fixing). This type of conduct could also in some circumstances raise concerns under section 45(1)(c) of the CCA which prohibits anticompetitive concerted practices.

Ivy Contractors is a residential and commercial roofing business that services the greater Sydney region.

On 20 December 2018, a member of an industry Facebook group posted a photograph of two large hailstones to that group together with a caption:

I think this latest storm is the perfect opportunity for the roofers of Sydney to increase pricing across the board as a standard that doesn’t decrease!”

The post sparked discussions among other roofers (including Kerkenezov) about prices that roofers should charge for different roofing services. One of Kerkenezov’s comments was “Let’s all agree that we start from $65 and go up”.

Both Ivy Contractors and Kerkenezov admitted that Kerkenezov’s conduct was undertaken in his capacity as a director of Ivy Contractors. Kerkenezov has since left that Facebook group.

The ACCC was concerned that competing roofers in the Sydney region used the Facebook group to share and seek to agree upon pricing and minimum rates for different roofing services.

To address the ACCC’s concerns, Ivy Contractors and Kerkenezov provided the ACCC with a section 87B undertaking that includes:

  • acknowledgements of the ACCC's concerns; 
  • commitments to ensure that the conduct is not repeated; and
  • Kerkenezov undertaking competition law training from a suitably qualified legal professional.