The Australian High court has ruled on 7 September 2012 that Indonesian national airline Garuda isn’t immune from legal action by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Since 2008, the ACCC has been pursuing a number of airlines, including Garuda in relation to alleged price fixing and anti-competitive conduct relating to surcharges applied to the carriage of air freight. Garuda contended that they were immune from the ACCC proceedings under the Foreign States Immunities Act 1985 (FSI Act). Though the High Court judges accepted that Garuda was a separate entity of the Republic of Indonesia which owns 95.5 per cent of its shares, they found it could not claim immunity because the proposed ACCC proceedings related to commercial transactions.Case: P.T. Garuda Indonesia Ltd v Australian Competition & Consumer Commission [2012] HCA 33; find full text of judgement here>>.Source: ACCC press release NR 188/12
