Authority needs more resources

Following the recent criticism of this country’s competitiveness, and competition legislation covering cartels and monopolies — which have been described as toothless — it appears that all is not lost.

Yesterday, the Competition Authority announced that it had found one of the country’s major petrol companies, Statoil, to be anti-competitive and intended to begin legal proceedings.

After a two-year long investigation it declared Statoil’s pricing arrangements with its retailers was anti-competitive, because it combined both a floor and ceiling on price and was, in effect, an incentive to avoid competition.