ACCC wins fight against BlueScope, Star Entertainment slapped with fines and Bellevue Gold raises $70m
, 2022-12-08 22:54:51,
Australia’s competition watchdog has won its battle against the country’s biggest steelmaker BlueScope Steel (ASX:BSL) about pricing concerns going back a decade.
On Friday, Federal Court Judge Michael O’Bryan ruled in favor of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which brought civil action against BlueScope and former sales and marketing general manager Jason Ellis.
ACCC Commissioner Liza Carver upheld the ruling.
“The court found that BlueScope, which is one of Australia’s largest companies, and its former senior executive, Jason Ellis, attempted to induce competitors to enter into price fixing agreements,” it said.
The BlueScope and Ellis actions reportedly took place between September 2013 and June 2014.
The court believes that the incentives fixed or raised the cost of flat steel products in Australia, as millions of consumers would have used the increased costs.
“If successful, these attempts would have resulted in agreements between competitors that reduced price competition in the Australian flat steel market and increased prices for flat steel products that are widely used in Australia,” said Ms Carver.
BlueScope announced that it was “disappointed” by the court’s decision and would consider appealing.
“In the time since BlueScope first became aware of the conduct that led to the legal proceedings,…
,
To read the original article from news.google.com, Click here
Private Internet Access gives you unparalleled access to thousands
of next-gen servers in over 83 countries and each US state. Your
VPN experience will always be fast, smooth, and reliable.
