Catering equipment in UK price probe

UK: The UK competitions authority could decide this month whether or not to proceed with investigations into suspected anti-competitive practices in the commercial catering equipment sector.

The UK government’s Competition and Markets Authority opened its investigation at the end of August into suspected breaches of the Competition Act 1998 and Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Both laws prohibit, in certain circumstances, agreements and conduct which prevent, restrict or distort competition, and conduct which constitutes an abuse of a dominant position.

Neither the number of companies under investigation nor their identities have so far been revealed.

Under the normal timetable of procedures the Competition and Markets Authority will make its decision whether to proceed sometime this month.

A statement from the Authority reads: “This case is at an early stage and the CMA has not reached a view as to whether there is sufficient evidence of an infringement of competition law for it to issue a statement of objections to any of the parties under investigation.”