ABSTRACT

In recent times, considerable attention has been paid to what may be broadly categorised as 'vertical issues', i.e. those arising from behaviour which involves firms at different levels of the market and which may display 'competition threatening' features. It was not thought that the houses unfairly assessed retailers' applications for authorised status, nor that there was an attempt to use the systems as a means of maintaining resale prices. An inquiry conducted in the mid '90s by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission into Ice Cream, involved a restraint aimed at attaining a measure of exclusivity. The Commission investigated the impact of the practice of the leading ice cream manufacturers to supply retailers with refrigerated cabinets on terms that they might not use them to stock ice cream from other suppliers. It was concluded that this practice (so called freezer exclusivity) did not operate against the public interest.