Australian court fines Qantas and BA for price-fixing

[2008-12-23 16:54:51]

16 Dec 2008

AUSTRALIA's Federal Court in Sydney has fined both Qantas Airways and British Airways for their role in a price-fixing cartel that involved international airfreight shipments.

The court ordered Qantas to pay A$20 million (US$13 million), a fine the carrier agreed to when the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) initiated legal action against the airline in October.

British Airways was fined A$5 million by the court, after admitting to an illegal arrangement in its airfreight business over the same time period with Lufthansa, reports The Associated Press.

According to a statement posted to the Australian stock exchange by the national competition watchdog, Qantas was fined after admitting to "understandings" with other airlines on fuel surcharges relating to air cargo between 2002 and early 2006.

Furthermore, both Qantas and British Airways have been restrained from engaging in similar conduct for three years and ordered to pay A$200,000 each towards the ACCC's costs.

"Cartels - particularly those that are engaged in by large businesses with broad application over a period of time - have a significant effect on consumers," ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel. "They are an unseen fraud on the community that must be uncovered and punished."

Qantas was last year fined US$61 million by US antitrust authorities in connection with the same price-fixing scandal and a Qantas official was sentenced to eight months in prison, the report added.

Source: 航运在线

Keywords:World shipping

China Imports Present Huge Opportunity for the World (2012-04-01)
China to Become World's Top Farm Products Importer (2011-11-07)
China Steadily Maintains the Position of the World's Most Attractive Investment (2009-09-10)
World Crude Steel Output Falls 11.1% in July (2009-08-21)
World Steel Production Falls 16% in June (2009-07-22)
China to Have 5% Share in World Organic Food Market (2009-06-01)
World Zinc Demand Drops Heavily in Q1 2009 (2009-05-27)
5 More Ports Ready for Direct Shipping with Taiwan (2009-05-18)
Swine Flu Poses New Challenges to World Economy (2009-05-05)
World Steel Association: China's Steel Use to Go Down 5% (2009-04-28)

Partners: China Customs | China Customs Statistics | China International E-Commerce | Customs-info