price-fixingˈprice-ˌfixing noun [uncountableU]1COMMERCELAWwhen 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 illegalThe 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).
2COMMERCELAWwhen a company tells the shops etc that sell its products how much they must charge for them. This form of price-fixing is sometimes illegalSYN BrE retail price maintenanceThe UK’s last price-fixing arrangement was retail price maintenance for non-prescription medicines.
3ECONOMICSwhen a government decides the price at which something should be soldgovernment price-fixing for the sale of drugs to the National Health Service