The national policy in favor of competition cannot be thwarted by casting such a gauzy cloak of state involvement over what is essentially a private price-fixing arrangement.

Still out of sorts over the larger anthracite combination's falling apart, Gowen would not commit to any new price-fixing arrangement.

They said that part of the price-fixing arrangement lasted nearly a decade.

Two years later, he developed a de facto price-fixing arrangement among other top Bordeaux producers.

An inquiry is likely to focus on whether the alliance amounts to a price-fixing arrangement in which advertisers are without real alternatives, Mr. Blecher said.

Seeking to channel its energy into uncovering price-fixing arrangements and breaking up cartels, the European Union approved a landmark overhaul of its antitrust laws today.

Commission officers raided the premises of 10 leading cement producers on April 26, while investigating allegations of a price-fixing arrangement.

In 2000, allegations surfaced of a price-fixing arrangement between Christie's and Sotheby's, another major auction house.

But the large firms dominated the code authorities, leading to complaints that the price-fixing arrangements were being used to force the smaller firms out of business.

The settlement resolved claims that the companies engaged in a price-fixing arrangement that cost government purchasers and consumers millions of dollars in overcharges for their chips.