UK Brands in Price-Fixing Investigation

Five leading UK musical instrument companies have become the subject of an investigation into alleged price fixing by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

According to reports, Fender, Korg, Yamaha, Casio and Roland, all members of the MIA, with representatives from Fender, Korg (although Rob Castle has just retired) and Roland sitting on the MIA board, are apparently the subjects of individual investigations into “suspected breaches of competition law”.

Reports in The Telegraph say as many as 10 CMA staff visited the offices of the companies, some carrying out searches for up to four days. Meanwhile, 14 leading music shops have been asked to provide details of their dealings with the firms. The shops are not under any suspicion of wrongdoing.

According to the CMA: “[The] investigation is at an early stage and no assumptions should be made that competition law has been infringed. The CMA has not reached a view on whether there is sufficient evidence of an infringement of competition law for it to issue a statement of objections to any of the parties under investigation. Not all cases result in the CMA issuing a statement of objections. Further detail of the CMA’s procedures in Antitrust.”

Not long after the investigations opened the MIA attempted to warn members against anti-competitive practices and that they could be subject to raids by the CMA.