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OFT welcomes the Competition Appeal Tribunal's judgment on price-fixing of toys

205/04    14 December 2004

The OFT welcomes the judgment given today by the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) on the appeals brought by Argos Ltd and Littlewoods Ltd upholding OFT's decision that the parties had illegally fixed prices of Hasbro games and toys.

The CAT upheld the findings contained in the OFT decision and confirms that the parties did engage in price-fixing.

Welcoming the judgment, John Vickers, OFT Chairman, said: 'The CA'’s judgment confirms the OFT's finding that Argos and Littlewoods had entered into price-fixing agreements along with Hasbro.

'Consumers suffered as the agreement kept prices artificially high. For example, with price-fixing a game of Monopoly cost £17.99 in the 2001 Spring/Summer catalogues of both companies. Thanks to competition law enforcement the game is now sold for £13.99 by Argos and £13.49 by Littlewoods.'

The CAT's judgment is confined to the issue of liability.

NOTES

1. The OFT published its replacement decision on 'Agreements between Hasbro U.K. Ltd, Argos Ltd and Littlewoods Ltd fixing the price of Hasbro toys and games' on 21 November 2003. The decision found that Hasbro, Argos and Littlewoods had entered into an overall agreement and/or concerted practice to fix the price of certain Hasbro toys and games  infringing the Chapter I prohibition contained in section 2 of the Competition Act 1998.  Financial penalties totalling £22.65 million were imposed in respect of the infringements.  A copy of the full decision is available on the CA98 Public Register area of this website. See also press release 18/03.

2. Appeals against the OFT decision were brought by Argos Ltd and Littlewoods Ltd against both the findings of liability (i.e. the issue of whether they were party to the price fixing agreements) and the imposition and the levels of penalties imposed. Hasbro was granted full leniency because it provided crucial evidence that initiated the investigation and cooperated fully.

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