This was a successful appeal by the ACCC against (in part) both liability and penalty. As a result, the Full Court re-fixed the penalty imposed on Yazaki to $46 million, the highest penalty awarded in respect of cartel conduct by an Australian court. Key legal issues in the case include: whether knowledge is required to “give effect” to an anticompetitive agreement, whether a market in Australia is required for a contravention of the provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act (Cth) 2010 relating to exclusionary provisions (ss45(2)(a)(i) and (b)(i)); the construction of the turnover test in s76(5) of the Act for fixing the maximum penalty; and the proper application of the maximum penalty to multiple contraventions.
Special leave refused ([2018] HCATrans 215).
