Investigation Continues into Roofing Materials

THE INVESTIGATION into a suspected cartel in the UK roofing materials sector is continuing, the Competion and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced.

The cartels and price-fixing watchdog said it is continuing to assess the evidence and a further update will be issued by the end of July 2018.

On 11 July 2017, the CMA launched an investigation into suspected anti-competitive arrangements in the UK roofing materials sector. Anti-competitive arrangements can include cartels where an agreement is reached between businesses not to compete with each other. The agreement can often be verbal.

Typically, illegal cartels involve cartel members agreeing on price fixing, bid rigging, output quotas or restrictions, and market sharing arrangements. In some cartels, more than one of these illegal agreements can be made.

There have been 11 investigations by the CMA into the roofing industry in the past 16 years.

Roofing Materials Cartel

The CMA says that no assumption should be made at this stage that competition law has been infringed.

The regulator has not reached a view of whether there is sufficient evidence to take action. Likely outcomes are for a statement of objections to be issued to any or all of the parties under investigation. Not all cases result in the CMA issuing a statement of objections.

If the CMA does issue a statement of objections, it is likely to advise that actions will need to be taken by roofing manufacturers or distributors to open or improve competition in the pitched roofing materials market.

>>Read more about the CMA’s investigation into the roofing materials cartel