11 Apr 18 fire protection companies facing prosecution for collusion

The South African Competition Commission has referred 18 fire protection companies to the Competition Tribunal for prosecution over allegations of collusion.

The companies accused of the illegal conduct are Automatic Sprinkler Inspection Bureau (Pty) Ltd, Belfa Solutions (Pty) Ltd, Bhubesi Fire Projects (Pty) Ltd, Centa KZN Sprinklers Cc, National Security (Pty) Ltd, Country Contracts Cc, Cross Fire Management (Pty) Ltd, Fire Check Cc, Fire King Cc, Fireco (Pty) Ltd, IBR Fire Protection Cc, Jasco Fire Solutions (Pty) Ltd, Multi-Net Systems (Pty) Ltd, Specifire (Pty) Ltd, Sylvester Fire & Piping Services Cc, TFMC (Pty) Ltd, Tshwane Fire Sprinklers Cc, and Whip Fire Projects (Pty) Ltd.

The companies have been accused of colluding and agreeing in 1995 that ASIB would exclusively provide fire sprinkler inspection services while the other companies would exclusively provide fire sprinkler installation services.

They also allegedly agreed that each company would only provide their services in the provinces where they are based. This conduct violates section 4(1)(b)(ii) of the Competition Act, as it amounts to the division of markets by allocating specific types of services and territories.