Australia: Colgate fined $18m for price fixing

Colgate-Palmolive has been ordered by the Federal Court to pay an $18 million fine for colluding with rival companies to fix the price of detergents.

The fine is a win for competition watchdog the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission in its legal action against Colgate, fellow detergent manufacturer Cussons, and supermarket chain Woolworths, claiming cartel conduct and other anti-competitive behaviour.

The Federal Court yesterday made orders that Colgate-Palmolive pay the $18m penalty for contraventions of the Trade Practices Act, following admissions by the company in the court action brought by the ACCC.

Colgate admitted to entering understandings which limited the supply and controlled the price of laundry detergents, and agreed with the ACCC on the penalty.

It also admitted that one of Colgate’s most senior former sales executives, Paul Ansell, engaged in the cartel conduct.

Mr Ansell has been disqualified from managing corporations for seven years and has been forced to pay $75,000 towards the ACCC’s costs.

The fine is the third-largest the Federal Court has ever ordered for anti-competitive breaches.

Full Content: The Australian

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