Government and other public bodies
Tarmac's leading position in the quarrying and construction industry means that we are well placed to represent the sector and work with government and other public bodies on policies and issues that affect our business.
We recognise the importance of keeping informed about current laws, regulations and policies that affect our operations, as well as sharing relevant information with our customers, suppliers, employees and other stakeholders. As a major UK business, we take part in high-level policy discussions and influence government and other public bodies to pursue realistic sustainability goals. Tarmac does not make donations to political parties.
Our actions
Supporting regulators
The Competition Commission (CC) is currently conducting a Market Investigation (MI) into the UK’s aggregates, cement, and ready mixed concrete sectors. As part of the overall industry response, Tarmac is supporting the CC in this process. This MI is completely separate to the CC’s examination of the proposed Joint Venture between Tarmac and Lafarge UK. The MI is being conducted by a different team looking at different aspects of competition law and working to different timetables.
Potential Joint Venture
In February 2011, our parent company, Anglo American plc, announced its intention to form a 50:50 Joint Venture company (JVCo) with Lafarge SA to merge their respective UK operations. The proposal includes Tarmac’s UK aggregates, asphalt, ready mixed concrete, cement and lime operations, as well as Lafarge’s UK cement, asphalt, concrete and aggregates operations. During 2011, this proposal was passed from the UK’s Office of Fair Trading to the Competition Commission (CC) for review. This process is ongoing, and the CC is due to publish its final report in May 2012. Until any decision is made by the CC, Tarmac and Lafarge continue to operate as separate, competitive organisations.
Maintaining relationships
We work collaboratively with government, trade and public bodies, complying with laws including the Competition Act and Bribery Act, as well as our own extensive principles of business conduct. These are: the Rules of Business, Competition Law Compliance programme, Integrity Policy and the Anglo American Good Citizenship business principles.
Supporting UK industry
In today’s business environment, the UK construction industry is facing growing legislative demands. Tarmac is supportive of new laws and regulations to drive carbon reduction and energy efficiency but at the same time the UK Government should ensure that new climate change policies are not too restrictive, which would put the UK construction industry at an unfair disadvantage compared to other countries.
Supporting industry regulators
We work closely with the UK Government to ensure that regulation and initiatives are developed in an appropriate manner. In 2011, we have worked with the Environment Agency to support the development of scheme guidance for the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme and participated in a trial to help refine the new auditing process.
