Competition Commission raids premises of 25 fire sprinkler installers
The Competition Commission on Thursday carried out simultaneous and coordinated search and seizure raids at the premises of the Automatic Sprinkler Inspection Bureau (Asib) and 24 fire control and protection services companies that are members of Asib.
This is the largest number of premises raided in a cartel investigation in South Africa.
The commission said in a statement that it had reasonable grounds to believe that the Asib and its members are engaged in a concerted practice to fix prices and trading conditions, divide markets and tender collusively.
Asib members are required to adhere to various rules and standards which constitute an agreement to exclude nonmembers from the market.
This is part of an ongoing investigation and prosecution in the sector, which has already led to several Gauteng companies admitting to the conduct and settling with the commission.
“This investigation is particularly concerning because of the seemingly prominent role played by consulting engineering companies in facilitating this cartel, as well as the confirmation of pervasiveness of cartels in the construction sector,” the commission said in a statement.
The commission has already investigated a complaint in this industry, uncovering long-standing collusive arrangements among fire control and protection systems companies.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation