A jury has acquitted The Country Care Group, its CEO and a former employee of criminal cartel offences.

Garuda has withdrawn its appeal against penalty for price fixing

On 18 June 2020 Wilhelmsen Ocean AS (WWO) pleased guilty to criminal cartel conduct. It has now been convicted and ordered by the Federal Court to pay a fine of $24 million.

Jason Ellis, former general manager of sales and marketing at BlueScope Steel Limited, has been sentenced to eight months imprisonment for inciting the obstruction of an ACCC cartel investigation.

ANZ, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and six senior banking executives were today committed to the Federal Court of Australia for trail on criminal cartel charges.

Criminal cartel charges have been laid against pharmaceutical ingredient company, Alkaloids of Australia Pty Ltd, and its former export manager, Christopher Kenneth Joyce. Each have been charged with 33 criminal offences.

The ACCC has commenced civil cartel proceedings against overhead crane company, NQCranes.

Former general manager of sales and marketing at BlueScope Steel Limited, Jason Ellis, has entered a guilty plea to ‘one charge of inciting the obstruction of Commonwealth public officials in the performance of their functions’.

New paper on repeal of s 51(3): Brent Fisse, ‘ACCC Guidelines on repeal of section 51(3) could not and do not resolve need for competitor supply/acquisition exception to cartel prohibitions under Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (PDF)

The criminal cartel case against banks and bankers continued from 20-24 July in the District Court in Penrith before Magistrate Giles, courtesy of a virtual courtroom.

The ACCC’s criminal cartel case against banks and investment bankers resumes later this month - this time in Penrith Local Court to facilitate social distancing.

Shipping company Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean AS (WWO) has entered a guilty plea to criminal cartel conduct in the Federal Court today.

The ACCC has announced that it is ‘proposing to allow insurance companies and brokers to continue coordination and implementation of temporary COVID-19 relief measures for certain small businesses.‘

The ACCC has been unsuccessful in its attempt to stay Garuda’s appeal against a $19 million cartel penalty, despite its failure to pay the penalty.

Katharine Kemp has penned an opinion piece on the ACCC’s authorisation of supermarkets working together during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two Sydney roofing companies - ANZ Roofing Pty Ltd and Ivy Contractors Pty Ltd - have provided enforceable undertakings to the ACCC acknowledging that they had discussions on pricing following Sydney hailstorms and that this was likely to have constituted attempted price fixing.

Magistrate Megan Greenwood will allow bankers accused of cartel conduct to question JPMorgan executives (immunity applicants) about how evidence was collected and how immunity was negotiated in case alleging cartel conduct by ANZ, Citi and Deutsche:

The CDPP has laid charges against a former general manager at BlueScope Steel, alleging he incited ‘the obstruction of a Commonwealth official in the performance of their functions’ relating to an ACCC investigation into alleged cartel conduct.

Commencing 1 October 2019 the ACCC immunity and cooperation policy for cartel conduct sets out the ACCC's approach to immunity applications and how cooperation will be recognised.

See ACCC immunity & cooperation policy for cartel conduct - October 2019.