Vintners in contempt of court over prize freeze move

A HIGH Court judge has found two vintner’s organisations guilty of contempt of court after they introduced a one-year price freeze from last December.

Mr Justice Liam McKechnie ruled the announcements by the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) and the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI) amounted to contempt of an undertaking previously given by both to the court in 2003 in settlement of proceedings over alleged drink price fixing.

The judge said he “gladly acceded” to a request from the Competition Authority to defer even a consideration of the consequences of his finding and expressed the hope no further imposed order would be required.