£7m in fines issued in office fit-out competition case
A huge £7m in total fines has been issued after five companies have admitted to breaches in the office fit-out competition case.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been investigating the design, construction and fit-out services market since 2017. In July 2018, they decided to continue their probes, and in March this year, fines have been issued and agreed.
The five companies that have admitted to breaches and will be fined are Coriolis, Fourfront, Loop, Oakley and ThirdWay.
Court upholds ruling in galvanised steel tanks cartel investigations
The Court of Appeal has upheld a previous ruling obtained by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that’s related to the galvanised steel tanks cartel case.
Supplier Balmoral Tanks were fined £130,000.00 for exchanging competitively-sensitive information with competitors, despite refusing to engage in the main cartel they’d been invited to join. They’d tried to have the ruling overturned in 2017, which failed, and we’re glad to see the Court of Appeal has upheld the initial rulings.
The galvanised steel tanks cartel case has been a huge, long-running investigation involving the CMA. Although Balmoral were not a part of the main cartel, they still infringed vital competition law.