On 20 June 2003, the provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002 creating a criminal cartel offence will come into force. Recent cartel decisions of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) under the Competition Act 1998 have been costly to the firms involved – Argos and Littlewoods were fined almost £23m for toy price-fixing.
The Act raises the stakes for senior executives engaged in cartel activity and heralds a change in the moral climate of antitrust enforcement in the UK. Previously considered a shady business practice, which could reap rewards if undetected, participation in a serious cartel is now considered a crime sufficiently serious to justify a five-year prison term and unlimited fines for those involved.
