ACCC obtains penalties in bid-rigging and price fixing cartel action

In Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Admiral Mechanical Services Pty Ltd [2007] FCA 1085 penalties of more than $9.1 million have been imposed on 11 companies and 18 individuals for a series of bid-rigging and price fixing cartels in commercial air conditioning after Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Federal Court action.

Justice Nicholson, in the Federal Court, Perth declared that a number of companies in the commercial air conditioning and mechanical services industry had engaged in illegal bid-rigging and price-fixing cartels in breach of the Trade Practices Act 1974.

The cartels existed between 1991 and June 2003. It involved companies tendering for commercial air conditioning and mechanical services projects in Western Australia agreeing on which would submit the lowest price for particular jobs and therefore be likely to win the tender.

ACCC's media release