EC fines companies for price-fixing cartel
Sanofi-Aventis and Total subsidiary Arkema - have been fined €217
million by the European Commission for operating a cartel in the
market for monochloroacetic acid (MCAA).
The Commission said that the companies had run the syndicate for 15 years, fixing prices of the chemical, which is used as an intermediate and ingredient in the production in pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food products, as well as in the textile and plastics sectors.
Akzo was fined €84.38 million, Sanofi-Aventis affiliate Hoechst €74.03 million and Arkema €58.5 million for running the cartel. Swiss chemical company Clariant - which took over Hoechst's MCAA business in 1997, escaped a fine because it blew the whistle on the syndicate. The Commission said in a statement that the companies conspired to control more than 90 per cent of the European market worth as much as €125 million a year.
"The Commission cannot and will not tolerate price fixing and market sharing," EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said.
Arkema and Akzo had their fines reduced by 40 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively, by cooperating with the investigation . However, Hans Wijers, Akzo Nobel's chairman, said that while he regretted the company's past conduct he was unhappy about the size of the fine.
"Since we cooperated extensively with the European authorities, we feel aggrieved about the huge amount of this €84m fine. We will study the argumentation behind it to see whether the calculation is fair," he said, adding that the company had 'partly provided for' the fine. Meanwhile, Sanofi-Aventis said it had made provision for the fine but was considering an appeal.
Total's Atofina unit (since renamed Arkema) and Akzo Nobel were also found guilty of price-fixing in the MCAA market in the US in 2001, paying fines of $5 million (€3.8m) and $12 million, respectively.
