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ARTICLE · 03 SEPTEMBER 2017

AU$25 million criminal cartel conviction for liner shipping operator

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This is the first criminal cartel conviction in Australia since the introduction of criminal cartel liability.

AustraliaAntitrust/Competition Law
Nathan Cecil
Nathan Cecil
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Global shipping line Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) has been found guilty of criminal cartel conduct and fined AU$25 million.

This is the first criminal cartel prosecution and conviction in Australia since the introduction of criminal cartel liability in 2009, and the second highest penalty ever imposed under Australian competition laws. We have previously summarised the prosecution here.

The criminal cartel conduct

The Court found that there were five shipping lines party to the cartel provisions the subject of the prosecution, each of them major shipping lines involved in the car carrier trade. A similar charge has been entered against K Line and the ACCC has advised that it is continuing to investigate the conduct of the other lines involved.

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