Serious cartel conduct, criminalisation and evidentiary standards: Lessons from the Coal Vend case of 1911 in Australia

Martin Shanahan and David Round

Business History, 2009, vol. 51, issue 6, 875-906

Abstract: The criminalisation of anti-competitive behaviour such as price fixing has long been a feature of US antitrust law. Some European countries have introduced criminal penalties for price fixing while in others the matter is under debate. Australia introduced such laws in 2009. Of critical importance when considering criminalisation is the evidentiary standard expected in criminal prosecutions. A century ago, in the Coal Vend case, the High Court of Australia broke new evidentiary ground in applying forensic accounting and economic methods to examine price fixing. Subsequently overturned, much could still be learnt by policy makers and competition agencies from this case.

Keywords: competition; cartels; price fixing; intent; public interest (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1080/00076790903281025

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