Three firms fined by Competition Tribunal over mail inserter cartel case

The Competition Tribunal fined three companies nearly HK$5.58 million on Wednesday for their anti-competitive practices in selling mail inserters in Hong Kong.

Quadient Technologies (formerly called Neopost), Toppan Forms, and Smartech Business Systems admitted price fixing, market-sharing, and bid-rigging over the sale of Neopost mail inserters between April 2018 and January 2019. 

The competition court on Wednesday (June 14) fined Neopost HK$1.4 million, while ordering Toppan and Smartech to pay HK$3.37 million and HK$808,000 in penalties, respectively.

The three undertakings were also ordered to pay the Competition Commission’s investigation and litigation costs.

The orders were granted based on the joint applications filed with the Tribunal by the Commission and each of the three companies in December 2021, to dispose of the proceedings by consent. 

The competition watchdog on Thursday welcomed the orders granted by the court and stated that it is the first case in which all the subjects of the investigation cooperated with the Commission during the investigation stage, and agreed to fully settle the case under the Cooperation and Settlement Policy for Undertakings Engaged in Cartel Conduct.

In return for their cooperation, the Commission has recommended a cooperation discount to the Tribunal and agreed not to pursue the employees of the firms for involvement in the misconduct.