Regulating for "well-dressed thieves": Criminalisation as a regulatory response to price fixing cartels

Abstract

The Commerce (Cartels and Other Matters) Amendment Bill will introduce criminal penalties for price fixing and other cartel offences. This law change has faced commentary and critique from several perspectives including competition law, economics, criminal law and its practical effect on business. My paper will examine the criminalisation of cartels through a regulatory lens, starting from the premise that criminal law can be subsumed under the regulatory paradigm. I will identify the regulatory problem that price fixing cartels pose, explore the Bill’s practical implications and then provide a flavour of the debate around whether such change is appropriate or desirable. Finally, I will draw my own conclusions regarding the Bill and its overall desirability, as well as criminalisation as a regulatory response.