BUSINESSES currently involved in a cartel are being offered a deal to come clean with the Island’s competition regulator.

The Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority has this week issued proposals for a ‘leniency policy’ to encourage firms to come forward and volunteer information about anti-competitive behaviour, in particular cartels and price-fixing.

The full weight of the new Competition Law comes into effect on 1 November and from that date any business found to be taking part in a cartel – which may involve price-fixing, market sharing, production or sales quotas, exclusion of competitors, and collusive tendering – could face a fine of up to ten per cent of their turnover.

If the JCRA’s proposed leniency policy is approved any firm involved in a cartel that is prepared to disclose information about it on a confidential basis will either be immune from penalty or be offered a ‘substantial’ reduction in penalty.

JCRA executive director Bill Brown said: ‘We hope these efforts will encourage any business which is currently involved in a cartel to terminate its involvement prior to 1 November, if it has not already done so.

That is the safest course of action.

We are happy to discuss with any business in this position, on a strictly confidential basis, how best to approach this.