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RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s antitrust authority has penalized 14 cement firms with a collective superb of SR140 million ($37.32 million) for colluding to boost cement costs within the Kingdom.
The Normal Authority for Competitors has imposed an SR10 million superb on every of the producers for manipulating the cement costs to profit themselves, infringing Article 4 of the Competitors Legislation.
The legislation prohibits practices, agreements, or contracts amongst competing companies that result in controlling the costs of products and providers supposed on the market by growing or lowering them to hurt the market.
The businesses that are penalized embrace Al Safwa Cement Co., Metropolis Cement Co., Al-Jouf Cement Co., Umm Al-Qura Co., Qassim Cement Co., Najran Cement Co., Southern Province Cement Co., United Cement Industrial Co., Yamama Cement Co., Riyadh Cement Co. Arabian Cement Co., Saudi Cement Co. and Hail Cement Co. and Yanbu Cement Co, the authority revealed in a launch.
The authority mentioned it obtained complaints that a number of firms within the cement sector had manipulated the costs to profit themselves.
Following this, the GAC board accredited beginning an investigation into these claims and located that these firms violated the Competitors Legislation by elevating cement costs.
The GAC added that the resolutions have been printed on the expense of the violators, noting that every one of them have been last, because the Administrative Court docket of Attraction in Riyadh dismissed the challenges filed by these companies.
The authority additionally known as upon all institutions to abide by the Competitors Legislation and its laws to encourage shopper selections and help market progress and effectivity inside a framework of equity and transparency.
Earlier this month, GAC additionally introduced penalties in opposition to two enterprises for collusion in a venture at Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Expertise Zones, also called MODON, with a complete superb of SR2.11 million.
In March, the antitrust regulator additionally elevated the minimal turnover threshold for merger management filings from SR100 million to SR200 million, which ought to cut back the variety of pointless notifications.
It elevated the notification threshold based mostly on its annual overview of its insurance policies, which takes into consideration “worldwide greatest practices, elements regarding the variables of the nationwide economic system, and the extent of market competitiveness.”
As well as, the GAC famous that the choice would “facilitate procedures and alleviate monetary burdens, particularly on small and medium-sized firms.”
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