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ARTICLE · 16 AUGUST 2011

OFT Imposes £49.51 Million Fines In Dairy Sector

CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang
Explore more from CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang

On 10 August 2011, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) announced that it has imposed fines totalling £49.51 million for the exchange of pricing information in breach of the Competition Act 1998 (CA 1998) in relation to cheese and fresh liquid milk in 2002 and 2003.

United KingdomAntitrust/Competition Law
Susan Hankey
Susan Hankey
Caroline Hobson
Caroline Hobson

On 10 August 2011, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) announced that it has imposed fines totalling £49.51 million for the exchange of pricing information in breach of the Competition Act 1998 (CA 1998) in relation to cheese and fresh liquid milk in 2002 and 2003.

The fines were imposed on a number of dairy processors and supermarkets, for coordinating increases in the prices paid by consumers. The OFT noted that the coordination was achieved by supermarkets indirectly exchanging retail price intentions with each other via the dairy processors, so-called A-B-C information exchanges.

The consumer products sector has been a keen focus area of competition authorities across Europe for some years now, with the potential for A-B-C or "hub and spoke" information exchange, where retailers exchange information via a supplier (or suppliers learn each other's strategies via a retailer) a particular concern. Until today, the main UK decision on this point has been the

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