The Competition Tribunal has approved a consent agreement between the Competition Commission and two underground mine support bag suppliers that the commission had said contravened the Competition Act.
The commission had said in its referral of the matter to the tribunal that the companies, Timrite and Tufbag, in 2009 concluded a product supply agreement in terms of which Tufbag had an exclusive right to manufacture mining bags and Timrite had an exclusive right to distribute and on-sell mining bags manufactured by Tufbag.
The commission said this conduct may have amounted to market division by allocating specific types of services, in contravention of the Competition Act.
Timrite and Tufbag have agreed to pay a fine of R1-million each; however, the companies did not admit that their conduct contravened the Act.
The companies also agreed to implement and monitor a competition law compliance programme.