Notícias

Sugar deal could raise prices for UK shoppers

The CMA’s initial investigation has found that TLS’ purchase of Tereos UK & Ireland could result in higher sugar prices.From:Competition and Markets AuthorityPublished8 March 2024

Following an initial Phase 1 investigation, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has found that T&L Sugars Limited’s (TLS) purchase of Tereos UK & Ireland’s ‘business to consumer’ packed sugar business (TUKI B2C) from Tereos SCA (Tereos), could lead to a substantial lessening of competition. TLS and Tereos now have 5 working days to offer solutions which fully resolve the CMA’s competition concerns, otherwise it will refer the deal to an in-depth Phase 2 investigation.

TLS is a sugar producer which refines and distributes sugar and related products, including under the Tate and Lyle brand, to supermarkets and other businesses such as grocery wholesalers, hotels, and cafes in the UK. TUKI B2C sources sugar from its Europe-based parent company, Tereos, and uses a facility in Normanton (West Yorkshire) as a packing and distribution site to sell packed sugar in the UK, including under the Whitworths brand.

These two companies only face competition from one other company, British Sugar, in the supply of packed sugar to a range of businesses, including supermarkets. The loss of competition from the deal could lead to supermarkets paying more for packed sugar and shoppers could see higher prices for packs of sugar on shelves as a result.

Sorcha O’Carroll, Senior Director of Mergers at the CMA, said:

The supply of sugar to grocery retailers in the UK is already highly concentrated. This deal would bring together two of the three players in the UK sugar sector, reducing competition and choice further for people and businesses.

It’s now up to TLS and Tereos to find a way to address our competition concerns to avoid the deal being referred to an in-depth Phase 2 investigation.

For more information, visit the T&L Sugars/Tereos merger inquiry case page.

Notes to editors:

1. T&L Sugars Limited announced the deal to buy the UK packing and distribution site and ‘business-to-consumer’ activities from Tereos UK & Ireland on 2 November 2023 and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a merger review into the deal on 12 January 2023.
2. The CMA believes that the merger gives rise to a realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition as a result of horizontal unilateral effects in the supply of multiple types of packed sugar to business to consumer (B2C) customers in the UK.
3. As part of its initial Phase 1 investigation, the CMA considered alternative counterfactual scenarios on what would have happened if the merger had not gone ahead.  TUKI B2C has faced profitability challenges in recent years. The evidence indicates that Tereos considered various options for the UK business at the same time that they decided to investigate the possible sale of the business. The CMA considers, based on its review of the evidence, that the appropriate counterfactual in this case is the prevailing conditions of competition (namely, that the Target would have continued to compete in the UK B2C markets as an independent competitor).
4. Under the Act, the CMA has a duty to make a reference to Phase 2 if the CMA believes that it is or may be the case that a relevant merger situation has been created, or arrangements are in progress or contemplation which, if carried into effect, will result in the creation of a relevant merger situation; and the creation of that situation has resulted, or may be expected to result, in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services.
5. All media enquiries should be directed to the CMA press office by email on press@cma.gov.uk or by phone on 020 3738 6460.

Domestic appliances deal cleared by the CMA

Following a provisional clearance in February, the CMA is now allowing the proposed deal between Arçelik and Whirlpool to go ahead.From:Competition and Markets AuthorityPublished7 March 2024

Arçelik and Whirlpool are two of the largest suppliers of major domestic appliances (MDAs) in the UK, including washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers and cooking appliances. Arçelik supplies MDAs primarily under the Beko, Blomberg and Grundig brands, and Whirlpool supplies MDAs primarily under the Indesit and Hotpoint brands.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) referred the deal to a Phase 2 review after initially identifying concerns which warranted further investigation during its Phase 1 investigation.

Since then, an independent CMA panel has gathered and analysed a wide range of evidence – including seeking views from businesses and customers – in order to assess the potential impact of this deal.

The panel reviewed evidence which showed that while Arçelik and Whirlpool both have strong market positions, they will continue to face significant competition from other suppliers. This includes well known suppliers and brands such as BSH (including its Bosch and Neff brands), Haier Group (including its Hoover and Candy brands), Samsung and LG; retailers’ ‘private label’ brands such as Logik and Bush (Currys and Argos); and more recent entrants such as Hisense. 

The evidence also showed that the competitive landscape has changed considerably in recent years and continues to do so. Whirlpool’s market position in MDAs has significantly declined over the last decade, and it is likely that its European MDA business will be fundamentally different in the future. At the same time, suppliers such as Haier Group and Hisense have gained market share, and it is likely that they will continue to expand. These market dynamics are supported by a range of evidence, including from internal documents, financial analysis and third parties.

Martin Coleman, chair of the independent expert panel conducting the investigation, said:

We conducted a thorough investigation into this deal, which included extensive engagement with customers, competitors, and others. We found that the deal may not be expected to harm competition, with shoppers continuing to benefit from a wide range of options.

As such, we believe this deal should be allowed to proceed.

For more information, visit the  Arçelik /Whirlpool case page.

Notes to editors:

1. Publication of the final report marks the end of the CMA’s Phase 2 investigation.
2. In a Phase 2 review, the panel considers whether there is a more than 50% chance that a deal may be expected to substantially lessen competition (SLC) – a higher threshold than the ‘realistic prospect’ SLC test that is applied by the CMA in Phase 1. Accordingly, some deals that are referred to Phase 2 may ultimately be cleared.
3. Pursuant to a Contribution Agreement dated 16 January 2023, Arçelik will set up a new standalone business, Beko Europe B.V., to which Arçelik will contribute its European MDA and small domestic appliances businesses and Whirlpool will contribute its EMEA MDA business. On completion of the deal, Arçelik will hold c.75%, and Whirlpool will hold c.25%, of the shares in Beko Europe.
4. In February 2024, the CMA provisionally found that the deal may not be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition in any markets in the UK, including for the supply of washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers and cooking appliances (which comprises cookers, ovens and hobs). Having considered representations received, that provisional finding is now confirmed in the CMA’s final report.
5. For more information, journalists should contact the CMA press office by email on press@cma.gov.uk or by phone on 020 3738 6460.

CMA to appeal hydrocortisone ruling

The CMA believes the CAT’s decision to overturn nearly £100 million of fines for drug firms despite initially confirming flagrant anti-competitive conduct is fundamentally misconceived. The CMA has a duty to ensure effective competition law enforcement and will be seeking to appeal.From:Competition and Markets AuthorityPublished8 March 2024

Despite initially confirming that the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) decision correctly found “flagrantly anti-competitive” cartel behaviour by Auden/Actavis UK and AMCo/Advanz, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has today allowed their appeals on what the CMA considers a fundamentally misconceived procedural point.

The CAT has allowed the appeals because it considers that the CMA did not fully put its case to former CEO of Advanz John Beighton in cross-examination at trial.

The CMA fundamentally disagrees with the CAT’s reasoning and decision to allow the appeals. The CAT’s reasoning overlooks critical evidence that formed the basis for the CMA’s decision and was put to Mr Beighton over two days of cross-examination.

The CMA will be seeking leave to appeal the CAT’s decision to ensure the effective enforcement of competition law.

Sarah Cardell, Chief Executive Officer of the CMA, said:

The CMA imposed significant penalties on these firms after finding they engaged in a market sharing agreement that denied the NHS the potential savings from competition for this essential medicine.

We believe the Competition Appeal Tribunal’s decision to allow the appeals is fundamentally misconceived. The impact of this judgment is highly concerning. We will be appealing and remain determined to see this case through.  

Background to the case

• The CMA’s July 2021 decision found a market sharing agreement between Auden/Actavis UK and AMCo/Advanz relating to 10mg hydrocortisone tablets from October 2012 to June 2016. The CMA fined the firms and their current and former parents £106 million. All these parties appealed to the CAT.
• The CAT has today published two judgments on the appeals. In the first, the CAT finds that the decision was right on the facts and that all the grounds of appeal fail. In the second, the CAT finds that the appeals must nonetheless be allowed because the CMA did not fully put its case to a witness during cross-examination at trial.
• The CMA fundamentally disagrees with the CAT’s reasoning and decision and will seek permission to appeal. If the CMA successfully appeals the “due process question”, the findings in the CAT’s first judgment would stand.
• The CMA’s decision to impose fines on Actavis UK and its current and former parents for excessive and unfair pricing infringements was unanimously upheld by the CAT in its September 2023 ‘Hydro 1’ judgment, and the firms in question must still pay fines of £129 million. Today’s judgments do not affect that outcome.

The judgments

The CAT has today published 2 judgments relating to the CMA’s finding that Auden/Actavis UK paid AMCo/Advanz to stay off the market with its own 10mg hydrocortisone tablets.

The first ‘Hydro 2’ judgment was handed down on 29 September 2023. The Hydro 2 judgment upheld the decision’s findings and found that: “All of the grounds of appeal fail. The 10mg Agreement … is a by object infringement of the Chapter I prohibition. The object was flagrantly anti-competitive and the anti-competitive effects significant, in that an abused monopoly position was maintained and supported.”

The CAT reached these findings “conscious that we must be satisfied to a very high standard”’ and exercising “an extraordinarily high degree of care in finding the facts”.

However, the Hydro 2 judgment expressed concern that the CMA had not fully put its case to Advanz’s witness, former CEO John Beighton, in cross-examination. The judgment remained under embargo pending a further hearing on this point, which took place in October 2023.

The CAT’s second judgment in relation to the 10mg agreement (‘Hydro 3’) was handed down today. The judgment finds that the CMA did not fully put its case to Mr Beighton in cross-examination and that for this reason the “provisional” findings in Hydro 2 are “unsafe” and the appeals must be allowed.

The Hydro 3 judgment states that without this “due process question” the CAT would be “completely comfortable with the terms and outcome” of the Hydro 2 judgment. It states that if the CMA successfully appeals the due process question, the findings in the Hydro 2 judgment would stand.

Notes to editors

1. For media queries, please contact the press office on press@cma.gov.uk or on 020 3738 6460.
2. The appeal deadline in relation to the Hydro 1 excessive and unfair pricing judgment was suspended pending determination of the appeals relating to the 10mg agreement. The parties now have until 29 March 2024 to seek leave to appeal the Hydro 1 judgment.
3. The CMA imposed fines of £106 million on Actavis UK and AMCo/Advanz (and their current and former parents) in relation to the 10mg agreement. The Hydro 3 judgment finds that these fines are overturned.
4. A small proportion of the fines imposed for the 10mg agreement (approximately £9 million) would have been overturned as a result of the finding in the Hydro 1 judgment that the penalties on Allergan, a former parent of Actavis UK, should be reduced to reflect that it was required to ‘hold separate’ Actavis UK during 2016.
5. The due process question identified by the CAT also applies to another witness for Advanz, Robert Sully. However, the outcome in Hydro 3 turns on the question as it relates to the cross-examination of Mr Beighton.
6. Previous action taken by the CMA in relation to the pharma sector and the fines imposed:

• Paroxetine (2016): £45 million in fines for anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominance (reduced to £27.1 million on appeal).
• Fludrocortisone (2019): £2.3 million in fines and £8 million redress to the NHS for market sharing.
• Nortriptyline (2020): £3.4 million in fines and £1 million redress to the NHS for illegal arrangements including market sharing and information exchange.
• Prochlorperazine (2022): £35 million in fines for an illegal arrangement that restricted competition in the supply of prescription tablets.
• Phenytoin (2022): £70 million in fines for excessive and unfair pricing.
• Liothyronine (2021, upheld by the CAT in August 2023): £101 million in fines for excessive and unfair pricing (reduced to £84 million on appeal).

AdC e CNMC convergem no interesse da utilização de ferramentas digitais de apoio à investigação

Comunicado 06/2024
7 de março de 2024

• A reunião centrou-se em discussões sobre cartéis, concentrações, mercados de trabalho, inteligência artificial e ferramentas de investigação digital.
• Desde 2004, ambas as autoridades têm cooperado para reforçar a concorrência nos mercados de Espanha e Portugal.

A convergência no interesse da utilização de ferramentas digitais, como screening e  webscrapping, bem como a integração de Inteligência Artificial (IA) nas investigações de práticas anticoncorrenciais foi um dos temas do 10º Encontro Bilateral entre a AdC e a sua congénere espanhola CNMC, que se realizou em Lisboa, a 7 de março.
Durante a reunião, a Presidente da CNMC, Cani Fernández, e o Presidente da AdC, Nuno Cunha Rodrigues, reforçaram o compromisso de continuar a trabalhar em conjunto em investigações, bem como em iniciativas de promoção de concorrência.
O Presidente da AdC, Nuno Cunha Rodrigues, salientou que “A troca de conhecimento e experiência entre autoridades que este tipo de iniciativas promove é de grande valor (…) Neste sentido, espero que a cooperação que tem existido entre as nossas instituições se mantenha robusta no futuro, permitindo a realização de mais encontros bilaterais”.
A Presidente da CNMC, Cani Fernández, salientou que ambas as autoridades da concorrência “partilham uma determinação inabalável de consolidar os valores europeus dos mercados livres e de uma concorrência forte nos nossos países, a fim de melhorar o bem-estar geral dos nossos concidadãos”.
A última reunião bilateral ocorreu em outubro de 2022, em Madrid, onde ambas as autoridades abordaram, entre outros, os temas dos mercados digitais e o combate ao conluio em concursos públicos.
Desde a primeira reunião bilateral, que decorreu em 2004, as duas autoridades têm vindo a reforçar a coordenação na aplicação da lei da concorrência nos respetivos mercados, muito próximos e, até, por vezes, com dimensão ibérica.

10.ª reunião bilateral
Nesta ocasião, a CNMC e a AdC partilharam os desenvolvimentos mais recentes em matéria de cartéis, concentrações, mercados de trabalho, inteligência artificial e ferramentas de investigação digital, para além das últimas iniciativas para promover a concorrência.
As sessões de trabalho foram orientadas para a partilha de experiências e conhecimento, de forma a possibilitar uma melhor compreensão mútua dos mercados português e espanhol.
A AdC e a CNMC reiteraram o seu compromisso de cooperar em questões prioritárias para ambas as instituições.
A cooperação entre as duas autoridades é particularmente importante dada a proximidade dos mercados. Em outubro de 2022, a AdC e a CNMC realizaram diligências de busca e apreensão em território espanhol, numa empresa intermediária no negócio de aparas de madeira. Ambas as autoridades investigavam possíveis acordos de partilha de mercado e de troca de informação comercial sensível que poderiam afetar tanto o mercado português como o espanhol.
Além disso, a Diretiva ECN+, que foi transposta em ambas as jurisdições, aumenta as possibilidades de cooperação.

Viet Nam Competition Commission signs new Memorandum of Understanding with ACCC

Date

8 March 2024

The ACCC and its Vietnamese counterpart, the Viet Nam Competition Commission (VCC), have committed to even closer collaboration in securing strong regulatory and economic outcomes by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

The new agreement will facilitate cooperation and information sharing between the two competition and consumer protection authorities, as well as promoting the delivery of technical assistance activities.

ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb and VCC Chair Le Trieu Dung signed the MOU on 6 March 2023, before it was exchanged by the two governments on 7 March during H.E. Mr Pham Minh Chinh, Prime Minister of Vietnam’s official visit to Canberra. Prime Minister Chinh was hosted for his visit by the Hon Anthony Albanese MP, Prime Minister of Australia.

The visit took place during the week of the 2024 ASEAN-Australia Special Summit. The Summit, hosted by Prime Minister Albanese in Melbourne, celebrated 50 years since Australia became the first Dialogue Partner of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

“The ACCC’s relationship with the Viet Nam Competition Commission is a key element in co-operation across the ASEAN region in the implementation of competition and consumer law,” ACCC Chair Cass-Gottlieb said.

“We welcome this latest achievement and the opportunity it provides for further cooperation, consultation, and coordination between our two agencies.

The ACCC looks forward to continuing its close work with the VCC in our joint purpose to protect competition and consumers, both at home and in our shared regions.”

The new MOU articulates the common objectives and approaches shared between the two agencies and includes arrangements to collaborate on bilateral activities, such as:

• sharing best practices through the exchange of officials, non-confidential information, and experiences on matters of mutual interest
• conducting periodic study visits, workshops, or training courses for staff of the ACCC and VCC, as well as other officials.

“Both the ACCC and VCC remain steadfast in our mutual commitment to champion competition and consumer protection in the ASEAN region,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.

“We are eager to embark on this next phase of close interagency collaboration as we continue to deliver better regulatory and enforcement outcomes for our increasingly connected economic markets.”

Background

In April 2023 the VCC formed from an amalgamation of the Vietnam Competition and Consumer Authority (VCCA) and the Vietnam Competition Council and is responsible for implementing the country’s national competition and consumer laws.

The ACCC has collaborated with the VCC in supporting consumer law reform in Vietnam through the Vietnam-Australia Consumer Protection Partnership (VACPP), launched in April 2021.

The VACPP is a bilateral cooperation program supporting consumer advocacy and post-pandemic social and economic recovery in Vietnam. It has facilitated consumer law reform in Vietnam and has strengthened the productive relationship enjoyed by the ACCC and VCC.

The ACCC continues to build strong connections with the VCC and other competition and consumer protection authorities in the ASEAN region and New Zealand through its Competition Law Implementation Program (CLIP) and the Consumer Affairs Program (CAP) which was created pursuant to the agreement establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA).

Release number

29/24

General enquiries

Contact us to report an issue or make an enquiry.

Media enquiries

Media Team – 1300 138 917, media@accc.gov.au

Casos

CMA

T&L Sugars/Tereos merger inquiry

• The CMA is investigating the anticipated acquisition by T&L Sugars Limited of the UK packing and distribution site and business-to-consumer activities of Tereos United Kingdom and Ireland Limited from Tereos SCA.
  • Updated: 8 March 2024

FTC

Kroger Company/Albertsons Companies, Inc., In the Matter of

The Federal Trade Commission sued to block the largest proposed supermarket merger in U.S. history—Kroger Company’s $24.6 billion acquisition of the Albertsons Companies, Inc.—alleging that the deal is anticompetitive.

Type of Action

Administrative

Last Updated

March 7, 2024

Docket Number

9428

Case Status

Pending