CMA
imposes £36 million fines on concrete products suppliers
The
Competition and Markets Authority has fined FP McCann Ltd, Stanton Bonna
Concrete Ltd and CPM Group Ltd a total of £36 million for infringing the
Chapter I prohibition of the Competition Act 1998 and Article 101 TFEU.
The
CMA finds that the companies were involved in a price fixing and market sharing
cartel in relation to the supply of pre-cast concrete draining products to the
construction industry. The CMA notes that these supplies are important for a number
of sectors in the UK including the utilities and house building sectors. It is likely that private and public sector
purchasers suffered harm as a result.
The
CMA found that the arrangements involved exchanged of competitively sensitive
market information over the period 2006 – 2013 and involved senior executives
at the companies.
The
investigation started in 2013 with the launch by the Office of Fair Trading of
a criminal case leading to a cartel offence guilty plea. The CMA opened a civil investigation in 2017,
although no further criminal charges have been sought to date. This dual-track enforcement – both criminal
and civil – illustrates the range of tools that the CMA has at its disposal to
deal with cartel activity.
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