Published in Insights, The New Zealand Initiative’s newsletter, 11 December 2015
On Tuesday, Minister of Commerce Paul Goldsmith decided not to proceed with the long debated criminalisation of cartel behaviour.
The Minister’s explanation was telling: “In weighing up the benefits of criminalising cartel activity, the government had to consider the significant risk that cartel criminalisation would have a chilling effect on pro-competitive behaviour between companies.”
If you are unfamiliar with competition law, you would be surprised by such a statement. How, you may ask, could pro-competitive behaviour of companies ever be confused with anti-competitive behaviour?
The problem lies in the nature of competition law. It is an area of law which is prone to arbitrariness. Practically everything is a matter of interpretation.
If two companies charge exactly the same price, they could be thought to be guilty of collusion. If one charges more, it might be accused of gouging. If it…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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