Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, WORTH NOTING—Other Antitrust and Trade Regulation developments, (Aug 30, 2016)

A periodic roundup of other items of interest to the Antitrust and Trade Regulation community:

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: The merger of Diebold, Incorporated and Wincor Nixdorf AG, suppliers of automated teller machines (ATMs) to banks and independent ATM deployers, will face an in-depth investigation by the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the agency announced today. After an initial investigation, the CMA has found that both companies compete closely in the supply of customer-operated ATMs in the U.K. At present there is only one other credible competitor supplying such ATMs in the U.K.—NCR— and there is limited prospect of other companies entering the UK market in the near future. The CMA determined that the merger could lead to a substantial lessening of competition in the supply of customer-operated ATMs in the U.K. Diebold was given until August 26 to offer proposals to resolve the competition concerns identified by the CMA but failed to do so. The CMA will therefore refer the merger. The deadline for the final report of the investigation is February 13, 2017.

CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: The Federal Court of Australia ordered Ozsale Pty Ltd to pay a penalty of $500,000 for supplying children’s nightwear that did not comply with the Australian mandatory safety standard, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced today. The Australian mandatory standard for children’s nightwear prescribes requirements for safety testing and labelling of children’s nightwear and paper patterns for making children’s nightwear. Ozsale is a membership-based online retailer predominantly selling clothing that is sourced by purchasing excess inventory from mostly overseas suppliers. The ACCC brought proceedings against Ozsale for supplying non-compliant garments to Australian consumers. Ozsale admitted in joint submissions to the court that it supplied five styles of nightwear on various dates between February 2014 and October 2015 that failed to meet the mandatory safety standard for children’s nightwear. Ozsale also admitted it did not have adequate procedures in place to ensure that the children’s nightwear it offered for sale complied with the mandatory safety standard.

Companies: Diebold, Incorporated; Wincor Nixdorf AG; Ozsale Pty Ltd.

News: AcquisitionsMergers Antitrust ConsumerProtection