Profiteering
Profiteering is a pejorative term for the act of making a profit by methods considered unethical.
Overview
owners may be accused of profiteering when they raise prices during an emergency. The term is also applied to businesses that play on political corruption to obtain government contracts.Some types of profiteering are illegal, such as price fixing syndicates, for example on fuel subsidies, and other anti-competitive behaviour. Some are restricted by industry codes of conduct, e.g. aggressive marketing of products in the Third World such as baby milk.
Types of profiteering
- Price fixing
- Price gouging
- War profiteering
Laws
- UK: Chapter 1 of the Competition Act 1998
- Germany: – up to 10 years' jail maximum penalty
- Austria: – up to 5 years' jail maximum penalty
Example cases
- British Airways price-fixing allegations
- List of price fixing cases