Major food companies in dock for price-fixing

According to Business Report, the Competition Commission announced yesterday it would be prosecuting a case of anti-competitive behaviour against Pioneer Foods and Tiger Brands. The third group, Premier Foods, has been granted conditional immunity for co-operating with the authorities. The action against the bread manufacturers comes two months after the commission announced it was investigating the dairy industry for anti-competitive behaviour. The commission also said last year that there were indications of anti-competitive behaviour among the owners of grain silos. A food analyst is quoted as saying that this meant that items comprising 30% of the estimated value of the food basket were currently under investigation by the competition authorities. Full report in Business Report

SA companies are now more aware of the Competition Act, say industry experts in a Business Day report, noting this is due in part to the hefty penalties being imposed on firms who flout the law. Last year Lufthansa agreed to pay penalties of R8.5m and SAA agreed to pay R20m under a consent order after the Competition Commission alleged that they had entered into code share agreements which fixed the selling price of air tickets, co-ordinated flights and shared revenues and sales incentives on flights between Cape Town/Johannesburg and Frankfurt from 1999 until 2002. Companies do not have to wait until the competition authorities come knocking on their doors, says Ahmore Burger-Smidt who heads the competition law service line at Deloitte Legal. She says companies can take the proactive step of implementing a competition law compliance policy, the purpose of which is to inform employees what behaviour is permitted by law and to make it clear that company policy is to comply with competition law at all times. Full Business Day report