CMA joins five-nation effort over supply chain-related price hike issues

UK's top agency has joined US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in a drive to detect and investigate collusion between suppliers or shipping groups to hike prices, stated reports on Thursday (18).

UK competition watchdog Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it was linking up with its fellow agencies in other “five eyes” nations after receiving “multiple complaints” from businesses about supply chains.

Fees for shipping have reportedly soared by up to 10 times compared with pre-pandemic levels in the past two years. CMA, however, said that despite the complaints it was yet to find evidence of potential breaches of the law.

CMA joins the group consisting of the US Department of Justice, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Canadian Competition Bureau and the New Zealand Commerce Commission. The group is planning to “meet regularly to develop and share intelligence to detect and investigate suspected anti-competitive behaviour and collusion”.

The agencies released a coordinated statement saying they were “putting firms on notice that those attempting to use supply chain disruptions as a cover for illegal anticompetitive conduct, including collusion, will face the full force of the law”.

Michael Grenfell, Executive Director of Enforcement at the CMA, said, “People and businesses across the world have been facing higher prices for goods and for transporting them. While price rises can be legitimate, the CMA would be concerned if collusive anti-competitive practices are contributing to these rises or preventing prices from coming down.

“The CMA is ready to use its legal powers where it finds evidence that the issues in the supply chain might be caused by potential breaches of competition law.

“These are global issues that are best addressed together. With support and intelligence from partner agencies across the world, we can step in and take enforcement action if we find evidence of anti-competitive behaviour taking place.”

In the UK, businesses found to be colluding could be fined up to 10 percent of global turnover and directors could be disqualified or in some cases face criminal prosecution.

Businesses have been warning for some time over the impact of the surging cost of moving goods, which is partly responsible for inflation in the cost of goods and a squeeze on household spending.