COMPETITION commisioners in New Zealand have agreed to a settlement with Embraco in the latest chapter of a refrigeration compressor price-fixing saga which has seen a string of cases following raids by anti-trust authorities on a number of manufacturers' offices across Europe, the US and Brazil in February 2009.
The settlement includes New Zealand's Commerce Commission and Embraco jointly submitting to the High Court in Auckland on the penalty that should apply for alleged breaches of the Commerce Act.

The Commission is said to have begun investigating the cartel in 2009 following information received from an informant who was granted immunity under the Commission's cartel leniency policy.

In its statement of claim filed in the High Court at Auckland yesterday, the Commission alleges that in 2005 and 2006 Embraco met with a competitor and exchanged information on prices, production capacities and other market intelligence, relating to the supply in New Zealand of refrigerator compressors.

In particular it is alleged that senior staff of Embraco agreed with their competitor that each company would seek to increase prices for some compressor units supplied into New Zealand.

Details of the settlement will be announced once the Court has issued its decision.