Business Studies Powerpoint
Transcript: Continued. Sportsetail (which is now in administration) was granted 100 per cent leniency and so its potential penalty of £4,000 was reduced to zero. Sportsetail provided crucial evidence and met the conditions for full immunity in the OFT's published guidance. Sports Connection (which is now in receivership) was granted 25 per cent leniency. The FA was granted 20 per cent leniency. JJB had the highest turnover of the ten parties and this is one of the reasons why it incurred the highest penalty. Punishments. The OFT may impose a penalty of up to 10 per cent of UK turnover for a maximum of three years for infringement of the Competition Act 1998. The OFT has calculated the fines in accordance with its published guidance on financial penalties. These take into account, amongst other things, the serious nature of price-fixing, the need for deterrence and the turnover and involvement of the parties concerned. A g r e e m e n t s The Umbro Replica kit debate Allsports Ltd, Blacks Leisure Group plc, JJB Sports plc, The John David Group plc, Manchester United plc, Sports Soccer Ltd and Umbro Holdings Ltd They were involved in various agreements which fixed the prices of certain top-selling adult and junior short sleeved replica football shirts manufactured by Umbro Holdings Ltd. These were the replica football shirts of the England team and Manchester United, Chelsea, Glasgow Celtic and Nottingham Forest football clubs. Some of the parties were involved with the shirts of only one or some of the teams and some for longer periods than others. The longest that any of the parties were involved was from the spring of 2000 to the late summer of 2001. The agreements applied during key selling periods after the launch of a new replica football kit and during the Euro 2000 tournament. 10 businesses were fined and there was a total of 18.6 million. OFT STATEMENT However, many stores and retailers increased the prices of the England shirts and were priced at £40, this also saw an increase in prices on other umbro sponsored shirts which include Manchester united, Chelsea, Nottingham forest, Celtic. This resulted in Ten businesses being fined a total of £18.6 million by the OFT for fixing the price of Umbro replica football kit in breach of the ‘Competition Act 1998’ The year 2000 England released a brand new kit a head of the european championships. The kit 's price ranged from £24 – 40 pounds across most retailers. John Vickers, OFT Chairman, said: 'The fines imposed reflect the seriousness of the price fixing in this case. Since we launched our investigation the prices of replica football shirts have fallen and consumers can now shop around and get a better price'.OFT STATEMENT Business and fines included The businesses fined are JJB Sports (£8.373m), Umbro (£6.641m), Manchester United (£1.652m), Allsports (£1.35m), the FA (£198,000 reduced to £158,000 by leniency), Blacks (£197,000), Sports Soccer (£123,000), JD Sports (£73,000), Sports Connection (£27,000 reduced to £20,000 by leniency) and Sportsetail (£4,000 reduced to zero by leniency).