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Australia: ACCC delivers $40m in penalties in three days

By  |  May 1, 2016

The corporate regulator scored another victory on Friday, with Cement Australia being hit with an $18.6 million fine for anti-competitive behaviour in Queensland.

Only a day after Colgate was fined $18 million and the maker of Nurofen was hit with a $1.7 million fine for misleading conduct, the Federal Court in Brisbane hit Cement Australia and related companies in the hip pocket for breaches of the Trade Practices Act.

In total, successful action by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has delivered almost $40 million into government coffers in the past week alone – a move that would be welcomed by federal Treasurer Scott Morrison before Tuesday’s budget.

But ACCC chairman Rod Sims is considering an appeal against the Cement Australia decision, given the corporate regulator was pushing for fines of $90 million.

Full Content: Financial Review

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