Cartels

A cartel is a formal agreement among firms in an oligopolistic industry.

Cartel members may agree on such matters as prices, total industry output, market shares, allocation of customers, allocation of territories, bid-rigging, establishment of common sales agencies, and the division of profits or combination of these. Cartel in this broad sense is synonymous with “explicit” forms of collusion. Cartels are formed for the mutual benefit of member firms.

The theory of “cooperative” oligopoly provides the basis for analyzing the formation and the economic effects of cartels. Generally speaking, cartels or cartel behaviour attempts to emulate that of monopoly by restricting industry output, raising or fixing prices in order to earn higher profits.

Source: OECD

Abuse of dominance, Antitrust, Cartels, Competition, Dominance, Enforcement, Investigations, Leniency, Poland, Policy

(WKB Wierciński, Kwieciński, Baehr, Poland)/ /Leave a comment

Let me get this straight from the beginning. I am not a big fan of the trend among the competition authorities to introduce whistleblowing programs. For me this seems to be rather a sign of weakness and not of strength. If other available tools (and especially the leniency program) worked well there would probably be…

Antitrust, Brexit, Cartels, European Union, Mergers, United Kingdom

(Norton Rose Fulbright, Belgium)/ /2 Comments

With her delivery of the UK’s Article 50 notice on March 29, Theresa May has launched the two-year negotiating process leading to the first exit of a Member State from the European Union (EU).  The negotiations will affect virtually every economic and policy area in Europe, including competition policy. These effects will be felt first…

Antitrust, Cartels, European Commission

(Baker Botts), , , (Hogan Lovells), and (White & Case, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

The European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has emphasised two important developments for EU antitrust enforcement, which have emerged from technological advancements: The Commission is taking proactive steps to consider whether the increasing reliance on computers to handle business processes and decisions raises competition law issues.  One area of current concern is the use of algorithms, in…

Cartels

(Sidley Austin LLP)/ /Leave a comment

Earlier this year, Libratus – an artificial intelligence system developed by Carnegie Mellon University – conquered four of the world’s top professional poker players in a Head’s-Up No-Limit Texas Hold’em tournament (one of the most complicated forms of poker).[1] This might not sound all that surprising to those recalling Gary Kasparov’s defeat at the ‘hands’…

Cartels, Germany

(Heinz & Zagrosek Partner mbB, Germany)/ /Leave a comment

On February 20, 2017, the Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) has published a brochure outlining its cartel enforcement activities, roughly over the past ten years. The brochure aims at providing an insight into the FCO’s practice combatting cartels, including an overview of the FCO’s investigation proceedings and case studies. The brochure explains the current leniency regime,…

Cartels, Ukraine

, (Asters)/ /Leave a comment

On 28 October 2016, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMC) fined seven companies, including Shell and SOCAR, a total of approx. EUR 7 million for alleged concerted practices. The AMC decision comes after investigation finding that the road fuel companies were tacitly coordinating prices from 2013 to 2016. The allegations base on ‘parallel behaviour’ observed…

Cartels, United Kingdom

(Peters & Peters Solicitors LLP) and (Peters & Peters Sollicitors LLP)/ /Leave a comment

On 1 December 2016, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) obtained a novel “disqualification undertaking” from Daniel Aston, the managing director of online poster supplier Trod Limited, whereby Mr Aston agreed not to act as a director of a UK company for five years. Trod had previously been fined £163,371 for agreeing with a…

Cartels, China

(Hogan Lovells, China) and (Hogan Lovells)/ /Leave a comment

On 4 November 2016, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (“SAIC“) – one of China’s antitrust authorities – published on its website three decisions, whereby three payment encryption device suppliers were fined by SAIC’s branch in Anhui Province (“Anhui AIC“).  Payment encryption devices are used by bank customers to protect the security of payments…

Cartels, Switzerland

, (Lenz & Staehelin)/ /Leave a comment

In two recent landmark judgements, Swiss Courts have provided important clarifications on the protection of business secrets and access to files in cartel cases. Harmful internal business communication subject to publication In 2011, the Swiss Competition Commission (“ComCo”) imposed a fine on Nikon for suspected violations of Swiss competition law[1]. Nikon appealed the decision[2] and…

Cartels, Spain

, (Hogan Lovells)/ /1 Comment

On 7 April 2016, the CNMC (Spain’s National Authority for Markets and Competition) Council imposed fines totalling €6.12 million on six Spanish nougat (“turrón”) producers for agreeing to share the market of the main distributors of white label nougat in Spain between 2011 and 2013[1]CNMC Council Decision of 7 April 2016, Nougat producers, S/DC/0503/14. See…