30 apr 1998 anni - gov.uk: Traditional anticompetitive behaviors: cartels, price fixing, bid rigging, agreements to partition markets....

Descrizione:

You must avoid all types of anti-competitive activity in your business including:

agreeing not to compete with another business

abusing a dominant position

Agreeing not to compete with another business (‘cartels’)
If 2 or more businesses agree not to compete with each other in certain ways, it’s called a ‘cartel’.

The rules on cartels apply to businesses of any size.

Rules about cartels cover:

price fixing
bid rigging
sharing markets or customers
sharing commercially sensitive information
An agreement does not have to be in writing for it to be illegal. You can break the law if you have an informal conversation (or ‘gentleman’s agreement’) with another business, even if the agreement is not carried out.

Price fixing
You must not discuss the prices you’re going to charge your customers with your competitors.

You’ll be breaking the law if you agree with another business:

to charge the same prices to your customers
to offer discounts or increase your prices at the same time
to charge the same fees to intermediaries, for example retailers selling your products
Bid rigging
You cannot discuss bids for a contract tender with your competitors. Bid rigging includes:

agreeing with your competitors how much you’ll bid for a contract or share information about your bid
taking turns to win contracts
asking other businesses to bid when they do not want the contract (called ‘cover bids’)
paying other businesses not to bid or when you win a tender
agreeing with other businesses not to bid or to withdrawing your bid
Market sharing
You cannot agree with other businesses to share markets or customers. You’ll be breaking competition law if you agree with another business:

not to approach each other’s customers
not to compete with them for customers, for example in specific locations
Sharing information
You cannot share information with other businesses that might reduce competition between you, for example information about:

prices
production
your suppliers, customers or contractors
the markets you sell or plan to sell to
This includes sharing information through a third party, for example a trade association.

Abusing a dominant position
Your business might have a ‘dominant position’ in the market if:

it has more than a 40% market share

it’s not affected by normal competitive restraints

You might be abusing your dominant position if you’re unfair to your customers or other businesses, for example you:

treat customers differently, for example by offering different prices or terms to similar customers
make customers buy products they do not want, for example forcing them to take warranties for electrical products
charge low prices that do not cover your costs so you drive out competitors

If you think you have a dominant market position, get legal advice or contact the Competition Pro Bono Scheme to find out what you can and cannot do.

"You must avoid other activities that break competition law, eg:

buying or selling jointly with your competitors
agreeing with your competitors to reduce production of something to raise its market value
restricting how much other businesses can sell your product for
agreeing with your competitors not to sell to certain customers or deal with certain suppliers
having long-term exclusive contracts with any customers or suppliers
..."

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