EC fines CRT producers for cartel pricing

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION's antitrust investigators have fined four CRT glass producers for forming a pricing cartel.

The commission fined Japanese firms Asahi Glass, Nippon Electric Glass and Germany's Schott AG a total of €128m but spared Samsung Corning Precision Materials for coming forward with information about the cartel.

The €128m fine includes a deduction of ten per cent, the regulatorts added, because the other three firms acknowledged their role, meaning that the EC could make its decision earlier.

"I commend the companies' readiness to settle which enabled the Commission to conclude the case more rapidly and won them a reduction of the fine," said commission vice president in charge of competition policy Joaquín Almunia. "But firms should be under no illusion about the Commission's resolve to fight cartels and impose fines that should deter them from breaching competition rules in the EU."

The cartel lasted for four years, between 23 February 1999 and 27 December 2004, and during that time the four companies worked together to set prices for CRT glass used in computer screens and televisions in the European market.

Asahi Glass was fined €45m, Nippon Electric €43.2m and Schott AG €40.4m. The EC added that the fines were high and took into account the firms' glass sales and the serious nature and geographical scope of the price-fixing. µ