Canada’s antitrust watchdog obtained a prohibition order against Sotheby’s international auction house and its Canadian unit following a probe into international price-fixing, the body said on Monday.

The Competition Bureau obtained the order from the Federal Court of Canada, barring Sotheby’s and Sotheby’s Canada — based in New York and Toronto, respectively — from agreeing with competitors on prices to be charged customers.

The two companies will also have to pay about C$800,000 (380,000 pounds) in investigative costs.

“The bureau’s inquiry concerned an international conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing auction commission rates, and the effects this conspiracy may have had on Canadian auction sellers between April 1993 and February 2000,” the agency said in a statement.

The investigation found no evidence that the illegal cartel affected auctions in Canada but determined that Sotheby’s and Sotheby’s Canada may have prompted Canadians to sell their property abroad via auctions that were subject to the illegal commissions.

Posted: 08|29|06 at 7:06 am. Filed under: Auction News.