| Wed 20 Apr 2011, 12:33 | | THEE - The Competition Commission - Commission withdraws case against Clover |
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JSE
THEE
THEE - The Competition Commission - Commission withdraws case against Clover,
Ladismith, Nestle and Parmalat
MEDIA RELEASE
20 April 2011
Commission withdraws case against Clover, Ladismith, Nestle and Parmalat
The Competition Commission has withdrawn its case against Clover Industries
Limited and Clover SA (Pty) Ltd, Nestle SA (Pty) Ltd, Parmalat (Pty) Ltd and
Ladismith Cheese (Pty) Ltd, the remaining respondents in its long running
prosecution of the milk processors that started in December 2006. This
prosecution related to, among other allegations, price fixing conduct. Clover
applied for leniency in respect of some of these allegations.
The Commission`s withdrawal follows the Supreme Court of Appeal`s ruling in
September 2010 in which it upheld Woodlands Dairy (Pty) Ltd and Milkwood Dairy
(Pty) Ltd`s objections to the Commission`s initiation and investigation. The
Appeal Court ruled that the Commission`s initiation of an investigation into
anticompetitive conduct in the milk industry was unlawful because it did not
specify allegations faced by each firm and was not based on a reasonable
suspicion that all firms in the industry were engaged in such conduct.
The case pertained to conduct which existed until at least 2006. Dynamics in the
milk market have changed since the investigation and referral of this case to
the Tribunal. The Commission will continue to monitor developments in the
industry to ascertain if there are any current competition concerns. To that
end it has put together a team to conduct a scoping exercise to determine the
current state of competition in the production and processing stages of the
value chain.
ENDS
Further Information:
Oupa Bodibe, Manager: Advocacy & Stakeholder Relations
012 394 3267 / 082 563 6970/ oupaB@compcom.co.za
Keitumetse Letebele, Head of Communication
012 394 3183/082 783 3397/ keitumetseL@compcom.co.za
Date: 20/04/2011 12:33:01 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
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