Press Release: Antitrust: Commission fines E.ON and GDF Suez €553 million each for market-sharing in French and German gas markets

The European Commission imposed fines totalling €1,106,000, 000 on E.ON AG and its subsidiary E.ON Ruhrgas AG (of Germany) and on GDF Suez SA (of France) for market sharing in breach of EC Treaty rules on cartels and restrictive business practices (Article 81). E.ON/E.ON Ruhrgas and GDF Suez were fined €553 000 000 each. Ruhrgas AG (now E.ON Ruhrgas, part of the E.ON group) and Gaz de France (now part of GDF Suez) agreed in 1975, when they decided to jointly build the MEGAL pipeline across Germany to import Russian gas into Germany and France, not to sell gas transported over this pipeline in each other's home markets. They maintained the market-sharing agreement after European gas markets were liberalised, and only abandoned it definitely in 2005. These were the first Commission fines imposed for an antitrust infringement in the energy sector. This case is entirely separate from the antitrust case in which GDF Suez recently submitted commitments.

European Commission: SPEECH/09/333: E.ON and GDF gas market sharing, GDF commitments, Pharmaceutical Sector Inquiry Final Report Press http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/09/333&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

European Commission: MEMO/09/323: Antitrust: Commission action against cartels – Questions and answers http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/09/323&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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