Posted on 30 Aug 2023
BlueScope Steel, Australia’s largest steel manufacturer, has been ordered to pay an AUD 57.5 million ($37m) penalty for attempting to fix prices for flat steel products supplied in the country, Kallanish learns from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) .
“The penalty ordered by the Federal Court today is the highest penalty ever imposed for cartel conduct in Australia,” ACCC highlights.
Besides this, the Court also fined Jason Ellis, the company’s former general manager of sales and marketing, AUD 575,000. This cannot be recovered from an insurance company by Court order.
Justice O’Bryan said that, “it is important that the deterrent effect of the penalty being imposed is not undermined by the ability of company directors and officers to insure against the financial cost of the penalty.”
“This should serve as a strong warning to all businesses and individuals that attempting to fix prices with competitors will have very serious consequences, even if the attempt fails and they do not reach an agreement,” ACCC Commissioner Liza Carver said.
In August 2019, the ACCC instituted civil cartel proceedings against BlueScope and Ellis. After three years and four months, the Court found that BlueScope and Ellis has attempted to induce eight steel distributors in Australia, and Taiwanese manufacturer Yieh Phui, to enter agreements to fix and/or raise the level of pricing for flat steel products supplied in Australia between September 2013 and June 2014.
Source:Kallanish
