EU: Competition watchdog imposes big fines on cartels

The European Commission on Wednesday February 21, handed out a total of €546 million (US$673.49 million) in fines to car shipping groups and car parts suppliers for anti-competitive behaviour, an EU executive said.

The Commission, in its role as competition supervisor in the European Union, said it had fined shipping groups CSAV, K-Line, WWL-EUKOR and NYK €395 million for having formed a cartel in sea transport of new cars and trucks.

Additionally, €76 million (US$93.325 million) in fines were assessed on Bosch and NGK for coordinating pricing of sparkplugs, DENSO avoided a fine by whistleblowing, and € 75 million (US$92.102 million) were assessed on two further cartels in braking systems. These cartels were comprised of TRW, Bosch and Continental, TRW  avoided fines, and Bosch and Continental , Continental also avoided fines).

“In particular, they coordinated prices, allocated customers and exchanged commercially sensitive information,” the Commission said in a statement.
“The three separate decisions taken today show that we will not tolerate anticompetitive behaviour affecting European consumers and industries,” said Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.