price-fixing ˈprice-ˌfixing noun [uncountable]
1. COMMERCE LAW when companies in an industry agree on the prices they will charge for something. This form of price-fixing is done so that companies avoid competing with each other, and is normally illegal:
• The EU investigated international telephone agreements to see if there was price-fixing in violation of EU competition rules.
• Japan's Fair Trade Commission ordered 13 ink makers to break up a price-fixing cartel (= arrangement between a group of companies ) .
2. COMMERCE LAW when a company tells the shops etc that sell its products how much they must charge for them. This form of price-fixing is sometimes illegal; = retail price Bre:
• The UK's last price-fixing arrangement was retail price maintenance for non-prescription medicines.
3. ECONOMICS when a government decides the price at which something should be sold:
• government price-fixing for the sale of drugs to the National Health Service
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price-fixing UK US noun [U]
► ECONOMICS, COMMERCE an illegal agreement between two or more companies about what they will charge their customers: »
The European Commission is investigating allegations of airline fare price-fixing.
Financial and business terms. 2012.