Price-Fixing Agreement Sample Contracts
The difference between price fixing and a cartel: The Israeli “Bread Cartel”Price Fixing Agreement • October 29th, 2022
We study a price fixing agreement in the Israeli bread market which took place in 2010 and involved the four largest industrial bakeries in Israel. The case has several unusual features: the agreement involved the prices of standard bread and challah that are subject to price cap regulation, the agreement was to stop deep discounts that were given in a limited number of stores, mainly in ultra-orthodox neighborhoods, and the price that the bakeries agreed on was well below the average price across all stores. Another unusual feature is that the phones of the bakeries’ executives were wiretapped even before the agreement started, making it possible to trace the agreement from its inception almost until it ended. We present two alternative interpretations of the events. The first interpretation, advanced by the Israeli Competition Authority, is that the agreement was a traditional cartel. The second interpretation is that the agreement was meant to end a price war between the bakeries.
Price-fixing agreement in the online sale of high-end tea: the French Competition Authority fines Dammann FrèresPrice-Fixing Agreement • December 10th, 2020
Summary: Hot tea! In decision 20-D-20 from December 3rd, 2020, the French Competition Authority found Dammann Frères guilty of price-fixing practices in the online resale of its products by distributors. In the same decision, the Authority also rejected the complaint based on the prohibition to resale on marketplaces by Dammann Frères to its distributors, extending the application of the European Court of Justice Coty case.