NQ company cops $1m fine

Penalty for crane business over deal

A NORTH Queensland crane business has been ordered to pay a $1m penalty after admitting to entering into an anticompetitive cartel agreement with a competitor.

Mackay-based Nqcranes Pty Ltd has also been required to establish and maintain for three years a competition law education, training and compliance program.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission brought the action which proceeded through joint submissions and a statement of agreed facts after court-ordered mediation.

In a November 23 judgment, Justice Wendy Abraham found Nqcranes conceded that it had contravened the cartel provisions by making a Distributorship Agreement with Mhe-demag Australia Pty Ltd on August 26, 2016. Mhe-demag Australia was not a respondent in the case.

In the agreement, the companies agreed to co-operate in the market for servicing overhead cranes by not targeting each other’s current customers in parts of Queensland and in Newcastle.

The judgment says that senior management of Nqcranes were involved in negotiations with Demag in drafting the agreement but that Demag first proposed the provision which contravened the cartel provisions.

ACCC Commissioner Liza Carver said the agreement was clearly anti-competitive and had the potential to limit the service options available to businesses using overhead cranes.

“Businesses are reminded that the ACCC will investigate and take appropriate enforcement action not just against large corporates or multinationals. We will carefully examine any allegation of attempts to interfere with free competition by engaging in cartel conduct, and we encourage businesses which have concerns about activities in their markets to contact us confidentially,” Ms Carver said. “All businesses should be aware of their obligations under the Competition and Consumer Act, and be proactive in ensuring compliance with the law.”

NQ Cranes was also ordered to pay $50,000 as a contribution to the ACCC’S costs.

On the $1m penalty, the company was allowed to pay in five equal instalments with the first instalment to be paid within 14 days with subsequent payments to be made in no more than 12 month intervals from November 23.

Nqcranes is a privately owned overhead crane company which designs, services and manufactures cranes.

It is based in Mackay and has operations across Queensland, including Townsville, and parts of NSW.