Collusive conduct in automotive industry investigated

"The Commission is investigating alleged price fixing, market division and collusive tendering by the manufacturers of various vehicle parts, including electric power steering and motors, glow plugs, pressure regulators, accelerator pedal modules and spark plugs," explains Leana Engelbrecht, senior associate in the Competition Practice at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr..

Engelbrecht explains that the Commission indicated that it has information in its possession of collusive conduct taking place from 2000 up to date, with 82 vehicle part manufacturers being implicated in such conduct in respect of the supply of over 121 different parts to motor vehicle manufacturers such as Toyota, Daihatsu, Nissan, Isuzu, General Motors, Hyundai, Yamaha, Volvo, Mazda, Mitsubishi and Ford.

Extensive powers

"The Commission is currently only investigating this conduct and there is no indication of whether the Commission will proceed to refer this collusive conduct to the Competition Tribunal for adjudication in the near future," she notes.

"The Commission has extensive powers to its disposal during an investigation to assist it in determining whether collusive conduct has in fact taken place and to formulate its case against parties that have transgressed the Competition Act, 89 of 1998. This includes summonsing parties to be interrogated by the Commission and to provide the Commission with relevant information and documentation and conducting search and seizure operations (referred to as dawn raids) to obtain information that may be relevant to its investigation," she adds