Auckland's High Court has handed down a $3 million fine to South American company that tried to rig the local market for refrigerator compressors.
The Commerce Commission filed proceedings against the Brazilian company, Embraco, after a cartel investigation uncovered evidence it was sharing market intelligence with a competing company.
In his decision imposing the penalty, Justice Allan said the purpose of the cartel was to pass on significantly increased costs without the risk of losing sales to competitors.
He said this was the latest in a growing body of cartel cases directed at New Zealand markets and consumers.
The Commerce Commission said the case involved Embraco and a competitor exchanging information between January 2005 and November 2006. The exchanges related to prices, production capacities and other market intelligence concerning the supply in New Zealand of certain refrigerator compressors. A refrigerator compressor is the key device in a fridge that produces the cooling effect.
As a result of the information exchanges, Embraco and its competitor came to an understanding and expectation that each company would seek to increase prices for some compressor units supplied into New Zealand.
