Salmon price-fixing claims can be heard in the UK, tribunal rules

Lawyers for the salmon companies had argued last month that, as the alleged anticompetitive collusion had taken place in Norway, the evidence is in Norway and the witnesses are mainly Norwegian, the case should be heard there.

Instead, as legal website Law360 reports, because the alleged loss had been suffered in the UK, the case was within the Tribunal’s jurisdiction.

The Tribunal panel said: “We consider the natural and appropriate forum for this case, being a case which is concerned with the price of a commodity on the U.K. market, is the UK.”

The retailers bringing the case include Asda, Iceland, and Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, Aldi, the Co-op and Ocado. They allege that collusion by the leading salmon companies between 2011 and 2019 had the effect of artificially inflating the price of salmon on the market, contravening UK and European Union competition law.

In total 13 seafood businesses are named in the claim, including Bremnes Seashore, Cermaq, Grieg, Lerøy, SalMar, Mowi and their respective UK subsidiaries.

Tesco, Britain’s largest supermarket chain, filed a separate lawsuit on similar grounds against the salmon farmers in the High Court in London last month.

Genevieve Quierin, a partner with Stephenson Harwood which is one of the law firms representing the retailers, told Law 360 that the firm and its clients were "delighted with the outcome and hope the defendants will now take a more cooperative and proportionate approach to the litigation."

The salmon companies are also facing price collusion claims from the European Commission, which has been investigating the issue for several years now. Last September representatives of the producers were called to Brussels to be questioned by the Commission’s competition authorities.

Similar allegations against the Norwegian companies in the United States and Canada were settled out of court, with no admission of liability.