Competition and Price Fixing

It is an offence under the Enterprise Act 2002 to take part in cartel behaviour. This is where an individual has entered into an agreement with another with the intention of:

1. fixing the price for the supply of a product or service,
2. limiting or preventing the supply of a product or service,
3. Limiting or preventing the production of a product,
4. Dividing the supply of a product or service to a customer,
5. Dividing customers for the supply of a product or service and bid-rigging.

There are many kinds of alleged price fixing. The most widely known is where cartels form to control a particular market in an anti-competitive way. Other less obvious kinds can be where certain information is shared between organisations, which leads to a much less competitive market. The regulations in this area are very complex.

Many businesses can stray into this, almost oblivious to the law or the impact their particular practice is having.

Investigations of this nature are often brought by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) or the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) We know how to deal with the OFT and the SFO and understand their mindset. With this knowledge, we are able to contest issues that arise where appropriate.